


Just Keep Breathing

by aerialreality



Series: Come Back to Me [1]
Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Brief abuse mentions, Consensual, Eventual Threesome, F/M, Follows canon vaguely, Harvey is the art kid loner, Lots of Angst, M rating is just to be safe, M/M, Multi, Nick is a flirt, Romance, Sabrina loves them dearly, Slow Burn, Varying levels of sexual content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-03-07 05:51:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18867043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerialreality/pseuds/aerialreality
Summary: Harvey is struggling and failing to move on from Tommy's death and to get over Sabrina after their breakup. He keeps running in to Nick around Greendale. Coincidence?? He doubts it.orThe one where Nick slowly but surely seduces Harvey, and Harvey learns to let go and forgive Sabrina.





	1. All I Wanted

_I could follow you to the beginning_

_And just to relive the start_

_And maybe then we'll remember to slow down_

_At all of our favorite parts_

 

_All I Wanted — Paramore_

 

* * *

I.

 

It’s not that he hated Sabrina — he could never hate her, not really — or even witches in general. Harvey had no desire to follow in his family's twisted career path of witch hunting, honestly, and there was not a killer bone in his body (until he had to murder his own brother, or perhaps more accurately his brother’s zombie, _thanks to Sabrina)._

 

Sabrina had made him a killer, a _murderer murderer murderer—_ seeing the light leave Tommy’s eyes was like losing him all over again, and how was he supposed to look at _her_ the same way? Look at her and not see Tommy’s face — confused and void and _dead_. Some of Tommy’s soul had to be left in him, the way he still protected Harvey after their dad had threatened him had to mean something, that he could protect and feel pain.

 

He didn’t, couldn’t, trust magic. Not when she used it like this, when inherently good people like Sabrina knew about the consequences and did it anyways, warping their decisions and defining everything they do.

 

She wasn’t his ‘Brina anymore, and maybe she had never been his.

 

Or, his conscious whispered, maybe this version of ‘Brina, the one where she went to the ends of the Earth for him, recklessly and thoughtlessly throwing herself in the face of danger for her loved ones, for _him_ , was who she had been all along and he had never realized just how _much_ she loved him, how much of her heart had belonged to his. And that had been absolutely terrifying.

 

So when her friend Nicholas had approached him the night that witches ran rampant through Greendale, standing too close — did witches all have no concept of personal space or was that just him? — and almost sounding _jealous_ when Nick stated, “Do you know how much she loves you? Her love burns through her, in everything she does. It’s _all_ for you.” With the earnest way that Nick looked at him while pleading her case, it was coded language for ‘ _how can you throw that away, you idiot mortal?’_

 

Harvey’s breath hitches, not quite able to meet the other boy’s eyes because he _knows._ It’s not that he doesn’t want her anymore; a lack of love had never been their problem. Which he scathingly reiterates out loud, adding “Not that it’s any of _your_ business,” he snaps defensively, glaring at the other boy, tall and chiseled in dark leather. “Why do you care so much anyways — looking to be her rebound?”

 

Nick smirks, glancing down at him and says, “She should be so lucky.”

 

Harvey rolls his eyes as Nick continued to speak, leaning forward to adjust the rumpled collar on his jacket, and _fuck._

 

“Most of the time, mortals are a quick study. You spend all this time _worrying_ about what other people think, scared to follow what you really want — deep in your bones.” Harvey’s breath hitches, heart beat increasing by just a quick look towards his lips, and _wait a second, when did that happen?_

 

Nick’s gaze lingers there far too long before grasping his shoulder and leaning in so close Harvey nearly _freezes_ in place by the door. He murmurs in his ear, whispering, “If you ever need a bit of danger in your life, don’t hesitate to give me a call...” The boy leaves with a suggestive wink as suddenly as he had arrived, cloaked in the darkest blacks of the night.

 

Harvey stands in the doorway, feeling his lasting touch long after Nick leaves.

 

* * *

 

A couple of months have passed since the horseman of death or whatever it was had tormented Greendale; he doesn’t remember exactly what Nick had called the villain. He _does_ remember lingering touches, adjusting a jacket collar, _Sabrina_. He’s still thinking about it while he was sitting at the coffee shop, waiting for Roz to arrive.

 

Harvey knows how disgustingly tacky it is, to date your ex’s best friend, but she was a breath of fresh air, breathing light to Sabrina’s dark. Harvey knew who she was, he could trust her, could not worry about Roz bringing his dead brother back to life. He didn’t know where they were going, he wasn’t ready for another serious relationship so soon after _her_. But it was simple, nice, the way she laughed at all the right times and held his hand in the hallways at Baxter High.

 

Harvey liked Roz, he really did, but he wasn’t sure that he loved her. Harvey enjoyed spending time with her, but he had only loved one girl before — the kind of passionate love that never truly leaves, no matter how much he tries to bury in the darkest corners of his soul. And if that was the case, if _she_ had been the one, the end all, the only girl meant to be his, he felt nothing in comparison to what he felt for _her._ He felt something for Roz, romantic feelings, but he doubted it was love.

 

And with Roz there, it stung a bit less when he sees them together, laughing and smiling like a perfect couple, like they were _meant to fucking be._

 

 _But who are you really jealous of?_ His conscious whispers, late at night when his thoughts run wild and he loses control, his lust haunting his dreams where Sabrina used to be.

 

Therefore, he sleeps terribly, _plagued_ by his brother, by Sabrina’s friend, by Sabrina herself. It’s starting to show on the outside as well, with the dark circles around his eyes, irritability, low grades in every subject except art, which he still found solace in. His life is a _mess_ , he’s spiraling away, he has no clue where he’s going to land and it’s absolutely terrifying.

 

Harvey sighs, resting his hand on his cheek and checking his watch. Roz seems to be running late — he’s already halfway finished his hot chocolate.

 

With a missing Roz, there’s no silent support when _he_ enters the coffeeshop. Sabrina’s Harvey replacement, someone who could actually keep up with her in all aspects of her life, and it stung more than he wanted to let on. Harvey hates being jealous — it feels so _trivial_ and _mortal,_ as the witches would say, but the fact that Nick could follow her where he couldn’t… but maybe it was better this way, he reflects.

 

Nick places an order upfront and spots him, sulking in the back with his drink. The warlock approaches him, steaming mug of coffee in hand as he comes to stand in front of him. He’s still wearing that fucking leather jacket, and Harvey shoves thoughts about how Nick looks so far deep down that he fears he might choke them back up.

 

“Well, it would be rude of me to not say hello, would it?” He asks, lightly. The confident gleam in his eye makes Harvey think Nick already knew how he looks in leather, saw it written all over Harvey’s face. The cocky _bastard_.

 

“Come to rub it in my face?” Harvey retorts, for lack of a better response. He’s just so _tired_ and he’s conscious that it shows everywhere on him _._

 

Nick chuckles, rolling his eyes. “If that’s an invitation, there’s something I’d _love_ to rub in your face.” He doesn’t wait for his shocked reaction and invites himself to sit next to Harvey, sliding into the seat next to him.

 

Harvey’s eyes widen almost comically as his face heats up, and he's really proud of himself when he _doesn’t_ spit out his hot chocolate at that line and forces the swallow down, the dark liquid burning hot against his throat.

 

“So about that bit of extra danger...” Nick says, a light smirk on his face as he slips his hand on Harvey’s thigh, slowly creeping upwards.

 

His eyes widening, Harvey startles, jerking his knee up and ricocheting against the table. Harvey stutters a response and realizes too late that he’s _trapped_ , that he’s been prey this whole time and the boy next to him is the predator, taunting him.

 

He wonders what Sabrina would say if she were here, seeing this. What would she think, her new boyfriend flirting with him? Was this just a game to Nick? The quiet laughter in his eyes as his hand gently, _so fucking gently,_ caresses his leg, slipping up so far he can’t ignore it, much less pretend it was an accident.

 

Honestly, from what he knows about Nick already, he shouldn’t be surprised he was this forward. Nothing about Nick’s presence is timid, from his confident posture to the clothing he wore — witches hide in the shadows but nothing about him is hidden.

 

His mind unravels into panic, with Nick’s hand _right there,_ waiting with a stupidly arrogant eyebrow cocked to see what Harvey would do. Thoughts of Nick kissing him, of kissing Nick, fluttered through his mind in a frazzled haze and he shudders internally at what this all means.

 

Nick’s free hand tugs on Harvey’s chin, softly turns his head and forces him to meet his eyes.

 

“Lust isn’t a sin, Harvey, it’s an emotion. One that we’re all allowed to follow sometimes, even mortals.”

 

Harvey swallows, he thinks Nick can hear his heart beating out of his chest — do witches get super hearing, is that a thing? — and he’s forgotten all about his date with Roz.

 

And oh God, _Roz._

 

But still, for a reason he doesn’t even want to begin exploring, Harvey allows the hand to stay there moments longer than he should have before he all but runs out of the shop, abandoning his drink and running away like the _chicken shit_ he is. He doesn’t wait to see Nick’s reaction, and he can’t shake the feeling that he’s leaving his dignity behind as well.

 

It’s not til he’s almost home that he remembers to breathe, gulping in air as he walks through the door.

 

He forgets to call Roz.

 

* * *

 

Their break up a few weeks later was short and simple, just as their relationship had been.

 

“Do you still love her?” Roz’s voice shakes, her lip was trembling — already seeming to know what the answer was.

 

“Roz, I-,”

 

“Harvey,” she cuts him off, saying, “I had a vision, about us. About _you._ You… with _Sabrina_ , and…” She trails off, not quite meeting his eyes before she finishes, “And my visions haven’t been wrong yet.”

 

“You’re upset at something that hasn’t even happened, Roz! That’s some Minority Report bullshit you’re pulling at,” Harvey insists, still tired and exhausted, dark circles evident on his face.

 

“Hasn’t _happened yet?_ ” Her voice rises with each syllable, disbelievingly. “I’m supposed to be your girlfriend, Harv! And while I believe you wouldn’t cheat on me, wouldn’t disrespect me or our relationship that way... I’ll never be what Sabrina was to you, even if you don’t realize it yet.” There’s some sympathy that flashes across her face then, and another emotion that Harvey can’t quite put a name to. “I’m sorry, I can’t play second place to her — it’s not fair to me, or Sabrina.”

 

She kisses him on the cheek one last time before she walks away, leaving Harvey to deal with the aftermath of _that,_ shaking and breathing hard in the school hallway.

 

II.

 

Weeks pass, and Harvey spends his time pining, drawing, the art therapy soothing the sad cracks of his broken heart. He tells himself he’s upset over Roz, and during the day he lets himself believe it, but late at night in a darkened room and having nowhere else to hide from himself, he knows that’s not the case.

 

Roz has barely said three words to him, leaving Theo to spend time with everyone in shifts, frustrated that he was the only one left trying to keep their friendship alive.

 

Harvey’s so deep in a sketch, it barely registers that he’s not alone in his room anymore. _Nick’s_ here, watching him brood.

 

“What do you want?” he asks, not bothering to look up.

 

“She misses you, Harvey.” Nick says, simply. He sits down on the bed, the mattress shifting down under his weight.

 

“You came here just to tell me that?” he asks, eyeing him dubiously.

 

“No, but it’s just... in class, she’s present, but not _present,_ you know? Her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes anymore — she thinks I don’t notice, but I do. Sabrina’s been going through a lot, and I think, for some reason she needs you, mortal.”

 

Harvey blinks once, twice, three times. He opts to ignore that dig _for some reason_ , too startled to make a snarky comeback. Hears Roz’s voice ringing in his head over and over, _I’ll never be what Sabrina was to you._

 

_I’ll never be what Sabrina was to you._

 

He knows the warlock is right, because he’s been feeling empty for far too long.

 

The only exception was Nick; his charismatic personality pushing his boundaries and forcing him to feel an emotion that wasn’t the chaotic, broken white noise he preferred to the gut wrenching grief over Tommy.

 

He reaches for Nick’s hand silently, and he lets Harvey take it, drawing soothing circles on his palm.

 

A few heartbeats pass, with them just sitting together in silence. Harvey loathes how his voice cracks when he says, “She said it wasn’t safe for me to be around her. I’ve tried to move on, but — but nothing else matters except ‘Brina...”

 

Nick looks at him, and Harvey absolutely loathes the pity he sees reflected in his dark eyes.

 

“Like I said before, Kinkle, don’t be afraid to follow your passion, and that includes her.”

 

He purses his lips together, getting up from his desk chair to sit on the bed with Nick. Feeling a little bolder and taking a page out of the warlock's book about having a lack of boundaries, Harvey rests his head on Nick’s shoulder, breathing in his cologne, earthy forest scents and hints of coffee. He lets his thigh bump against Nick’s, pressing into his.

 

Nick’s other hand comes to rest in his hair as he brushes his fingers through it, making Harvey sigh contentedly. 

 

“Maybe I already am,” he breathes, so quietly that Nick nearly misses it.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone liked it! I haven't written anything in actual decades since Zuko and Katara in high school, so my writing is a lil rusty.


	2. Misery Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst, angst, some attraction and gentle bonding

_I'll be your best kept secret and your biggest mistake,  
_

_Hand behind this pen relives a failure everyday._

 

_I keep my jealousy close ‘cause it’s all mine_

_And if you say this makes you happy,_

_Then I’m not the only one who’s lying_

 

_Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner — Fall Out Boy_

 

* * *

 

Harvey doesn’t see Nick much after that day, and when he does, it’s in passing as he’s out with Sabrina. Talking, laughing, being _together._

 

There’s not much happening in his life anymore except for his comics. Theo’s the only one who still regularly speaks to him, but even then, Theo and Roz are closer friends. He hasn’t spoken to Sabrina in months, still respecting his request of giving him space from ages ago.

 

He needed it at the time, but now… he hates it. He spends his time staring at the phone on the wall, arguing with himself on whether or not Harvey should call her and set things straight between them. _I still want you in my life, ‘Brina._ He’d say, and she’d smile, the real kind that lit up her whole face. _I missed you, Harvey._

 

Most of the time, he’s able to shut these thoughts down; just because he misses her doesn’t mean it's all suddenly okay between them. But on a rare occasion, Harvey sits on the kitchen floor with the phone in his hands, fighting off tears long after his father falls asleep. He feels so pathetic and downtrodden like this, having no one else around to draw comfort from.

 

Even when he was dating her, his brother was still the person he turned to for support, advice, even just help with his math homework. Tommy would have given him a hug, taken him out for a movie and some ice cream, maybe even Chinese, and let him have it out. He had no idea how much he had taken his brother for granted, how much he needed that constant connection. Because now he had no one — he was on his own, left to fend for himself against the wolves.

 

It sounds whiney and Harvey hates it, but that’s where he’s at right now.

 

Harvey’s sitting alone in the coffeeshop again, headphones on and deep in a drawing. Times like these were so nice, things that he treasured, because the whole world had washed away and it was just him and his sketchbook. It’s the only time he’s felt at peace since Tommy, since Sabrina, where he doesn’t feel empty, lost in the blank phases of high school.

 

That’s why he doesn’t notice her until it’s too late and he’s caught off guard — she’s standing right in front of him, a root beer float in her hands.

 

“Hey Harvey,” she says, a nervous smile on her face as he looks up at her face.

 

“Sabrina, hey there.” He takes off his headphones, setting his pencils down.

 

“How — how are you?” she asks, sipping her drink.

 

She smiles, ducking her head as she glances at her feet.

 

“I’ve been alright, ‘Brina… how have you been?” He forces a quiet smile, but she probably sees right through it. He’s never had a good poker face around her, and she has always had a knack for knowing when he wasn’t telling the whole truth — there was almost no point in trying to keep anything from her. Almost.

 

“School keeps me busy, you know,” she replies lightly, answering the question without really answering it.

 

He thinks about the classes he’s all but failing out of (because how could he care about math when his brother was dead? What could math do for him, when he was crushed underground? How did a high school degree help Tommy then?) and nods. “Me too.”

 

Harvey takes another study at her, really _looks_. And while her makeup covers up any tired looks she could have, there’s just something off in her stance, the way she holds herself. It’s not something he would notice if he didn’t know her as well as he did, and... maybe Nick is right, Sabrina could be having just as hard a time keeping it together as he is.

 

She’s dressed in a plaid skirt and a red turtleneck, still stunningly beautiful, and —

 

He can’t keep his eyes off her, and she smiles as he meets her eyes. She’s hesitant, the surefire confidence that she usually presents herself with is gone.

 

“Harvey, I—,”

 

“Hey, Harvey,” a familiar male voice interrupts, wrapping his arm around ‘Brina’s waist. Because Nick is _allowed_ to touch her like that now. He’s the one she can count on. Harvey ignores that sharp twist in his gut, churning his insides out like screaming from a bad nightmare. _Waking up in the middle of the night, a scream forming in his lips as he’s holding Tommy’s dead body._

 

Nick seems to bring her back to reality from whatever she was going to say; while she’s courteous enough not to kiss Nick in front of him, it doesn’t stop her from wrapping Nick’s hand around hers. He and Sabrina were both so beautiful, charm and charisma just radiating off of them.

 

The same hands that held his, with Nick sitting so _close_ to him on his bed.

 

He certainly _doesn’t_ think of how that makes him feel, how many wet fucking dreams he’s had about it since. If he had turned his head just a bit, if Nick had leaned in further for their lips to touch...

 

“Sabrina’s taking me to the movies soon, wanna come?” His eyes are warm, inviting, and he probably knows exactly what Harvey’s thinking about, the way his gaze keeps lingering on their soft, gentle hands that could wield so much power.

 

Sabrina startles at that, giving her new boyfriend a surprised look, but Nick just shrugs in response.

 

“It’s okay if you’re too busy, it looks like we interrupted you,” she adds, quickly.

 

His heart feels like it’s beating out of his chest, looking between the pair, feeling a myriad of emotions all at once.

 

_Nick and Harvey sharing popcorn at the movies, Nick and Harvey holding hands at the movies, Nick and Harvey kissing while Sabrina watches._

 

“Thanks guys, but this is an assignment for school that I’m working on, it’s uh, due tomorrow.” The logical part of his brain halts that line of thought quickly, saving himself in a white lie that he hopes won’t come back to bite him.

 

“Suit yourself, Harvey. The brooding artist is a good look on you, though.”

 

He _hates_ that he can feel the blush on his face as the couple walk away, flustered in all the wrong places as Sabrina looks back at him with a thoughtful, confused — worried expression on her face, trying to put _what the fuck_ just happened together.

 

She was a smart person, she’d figure it out eventually. She’d only have to flutter her eyelashes at Nick and he would cave, telling her about the _something_ going on between them. The way his hand had tingled while Nick held it, soothing the broken pieces of his soul back together.

 

Harvey groans, hiding his head in his arms and the artwork forgotten.

 

He was so fucked.

 

* * *

 

After that day, Nick seems encouraged to drop in on him more often. He hasn’t bothered trying to make new friends, although Roz has started speaking to him again, thankfully. No one wants to hang out with the guy still angsting about his dead brother and ex-girlfriend; talk about ruining the life of the party.

 

And although Theo would join him around town sometimes, he was more of a loner now, and he has a feeling that worries Sabrina. Had she asked Nick to keep an eye on him? He wouldn’t be surprised if she still looked after him from afar, managing to keep the distance Harvey had originally asked for, so long ago. That was just a part of who she was.

 

But did she know the extent of what Nick was doing? Were they exclusive? If he was sneaking around behind her back… Harvey’s thoughts trail off, feeling a little sick. He doesn’t want to be some plaything, someone that Nick could use when he wanted a body part other than Sabrina’s. His world might work like that, if everything the warlock implied was actually true, but Harvey’s wasn’t. He sighs in frustration, shoving his hands in his pockets.

 

This time, he’s walking home from school when Nick drops in in front of him, quite literally appearing out of fucking nowhere. _Of fucking course,_ because this is his life now.

 

“Hey there, Kinkle,” Nick says, stopping him abruptly in his tracks.

 

“Nicholas.”

 

“Going straight home on a Friday night?” he asks, pressing his hand on Harvey’s shirt as if to _stop_ him. He likely could, without even lifting a finger. Harvey tries not to shiver at that, and he’s glad when Nick doesn’t seem to notice.

 

“That’s the plan,” he sidesteps Nick, keeps walking on the sidewalk.

 

Nick trails next to him, asking, “Mind if I come with you?”

 

Harvey shrugs, trying to seem nonchalant and _not_ get caught staring too much at the warlock without being considered a creep. “My dad won’t like you, but sure.”

 

He smirks lightly at that, adding a bounce to his step. “It wouldn’t be the first time a parent wouldn’t like me, Harvey.”

 

Something snaps in him then, and maybe it’s the ugly thought from earlier about Nick potentially lying to ‘Brina, maybe he was tired of eating lunch alone in the library or eating dinner in silence with his father, maybe he's just burned out, drained emotionally and physically.

 

Maybe he just isn’t used to getting this kind of attention anymore.

 

It’s not that he didn’t notice some of the looks he received from girls, _even guys_ on spare occasions _,_ walking down the hallways at school. He just hadn’t felt like acting on anything, after Tommy had died _twice._  His life was still a mess, but it had been a whole lot messier right after the funeral, and again after the night half the town was almost murdered, having so much to process at the time. It wasn’t personal — he’s sure he could have an average, healthy relationship dating any peers that might have caught his attention, but they just weren’t _her._

 

“Why do you care so much? Why are you here?” he blurts out, tensing and stopping in his tracks as he addressed him. He doesn’t necessarily mean to have attitude, but he’s had a long week and the words come out anyways. Besides, it didn’t make sense, why an attractive, powerful magician would even want to be around him in the first place, when other _mortals_ didn’t give him the time of day.

 

Nick’s eyebrows raise, but that doesn't slow him down. “You’re right, I don’t usually… get _invested_ with your kind. But Sabrina likes you, and she wants to make sure you were okay, so here I am.”

 

He blinks at that, his face softening a little as he looks away. “Oh, there’s not much to get about me — I don’t do much. You can tell ‘Brina that I’m fine, thank you. I don't need a babysitter.” _There was nothing special to him, just another sad teenager with a broken family, and when Nick figures that out..._

 

“I had gathered as much on my own, seeing as you’ve truly embraced the _loner artist_ vibe you’ve got going for you, although we both know that she will want a more convincing result than ‘I’m fine.’ However, we can _definitely_ fix the former, Harvey,” Nick adds, the familiar smug expression returning. The warlock is getting too much satisfaction from watching the small flush growing on his neck that Harvey _can’t control,_ his body rudely betraying him.

 

“You’re _impossible._ ”

 

“That’s the point, Harvey. You can try to deny it, but we both know that I am inevitable.”

 

Nick pauses, briefly brushing their fingers together, and he swears he almost stops breathing.

 

“Does that — does that pickup line actually work? _I am inevitable_ , really?”

 

“Oh, it gets witches and warlocks _swooning_ , but I’ve never tried it on a mortal before. How’s it going?”

 

Harvey snorts, trying to ignore just how inviting his expression is, how confident Nick appears except for the nervous swallow giving him away, which Harvey follows; his eyes trailing down his Adam’s apple. Nick’s neck is so soft and chiseled, _perfect for —_

 

“We’ll see.” It’s Harvey’s turn to smirk at the other boy, moving to continue walking on the sidewalk.

 

He still allows his fingers to brush around Nick’s, closing around them gently, and he doesn’t dare check the other’s face to see what he’s thinking. He’s so _tired_ of how broken and passive he’s been, Harvey wants something good. He _deserves_ something good, something free that makes him feel alive, and he wants it to be Nick so badly it hurts.

 

But —

 

But he still has hopeless, depressing, some might even say pathetic, amounts of love for Sabrina. Unending and constant, his heart belonging to her forevermore. That’s why he couldn’t move on the first time he tried to with Roz, why he’s mostly been keeping to himself since then, why he’s ignored everyone at school. He hasn’t been able to, and up until now, he wasn’t even sure if he actually wanted to.

 

If anyone could understand that, Harvey thinks with a jolt of realization, it had to be Nick. He was hers now, he had to understand how infatuating and infectious she is, how easy it is to drown in her aura and finally feel whole, like finding your missing half.

 

Harvey finds a small comfort in that. He takes a much needed breath of fresh air, even though his hand is tingling — sparks of electricity spreading up his arm and through the rest of his body as they walked together, the cool spring air wafting around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed it, let me know what you think!


	3. Living in a Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lil light porn and a lot of pining

 

_'Cause I'm just thinking about us_

_I've been living in a dream about you_

_And now I know you were all I ever wanted on my mind_

_And if I never see_

_My own reality_

_Well, I'm okay to leave it all behind_

 

_Living in a Dream — Finger Eleven_

 

* * *

 

Harvey’s ~~suffering~~  sitting in his English class, fidgety and restless as ever, unable to stop his brain from drifting to the worst dream he’s had about Nick yet. He leans forward in his chair, resting his head on his propped up elbow as he vaguely listens to the monotonous lecture on yet another Shakespeare novel — Hamlet this time.

 

It wasn’t even based from something that had come _remotely_ close to reality.

 

 _But it could be, if you let it._ His brain supplies unhelpfully, and he mentally kicks himself.

 

It was without a doubt, the hottest thing that’s ever happened to him. While he and Sabrina had done their fair share of messing around, as Roz and Theo could attest to in court, they hadn’t been animals, hadn’t devoured each other as though their lives depended on it.

 

Harvey’s thoughts trail off, lazily recalling what it had been about, his teacher still droning on about the novel that he’s certain only the most attentive and studious are paying attention to at this point.

 

_To be or not to be, that is the question._

 

 _To be, indeed._ Harvey thinks, dryly.

 

The dream had begun innocently enough — at least for Harvey. He was certain that Nick had a different, more shameless definition of innocent. Dream Nick had showed up to his house uninvited yet again, dressed in his usual getup of tight pants and leather. He was wearing a white button down that was mostly unbuttoned, showing off and teasing his skin. The warlock had donned the most sultry expression, promising to show him a night he would never forget.

 

Not in the mood to attempt denying him anything when he looked like _that_ , Harvey grabbed his jacket and followed Nick out the door, into a night that was still young.

 

The rest of the dream was a blur, brief flashes of dancing and the other boy groping his ass, his thighs, running his hands down his chest. Harvey _specifically_ remembers being pressed against a brick wall of a dark alley, Nick crowding into his space, Nick kissing him like the world was ending tomorrow, forcefully, tongues clashing, bodies desperately leaning in to each other.

 

He’s _never_ kissed Sabrina like this, except maybe right after their break up. After they rehearsed Shakespeare together and there had been so much franticness and raw need when he kissed her back then, letting his body supply words that he couldn’t say out loud. _I miss you, come back to me. I don’t forgive you. I need you._

 

Dream Harvey has never felt more alive, the cool bricks behind him a nice reprieve from Nick’s warm body, so easily becoming his whole world in that moment.

 

Dream Nick runs his hands down his chest, slipping under his shirt and those hands wandering freely underneath. He doesn’t stop kissing Harvey as his hand moves towards the waistband of his jeans, pressing directly against his underwear. The touch makes Harvey groan, thrusting his hips into his. Harvey breaks contact, only briefly, to press his mouth into the crevice of Nick’s neck, something he had been _longing_ to do, burying his face there and biting the creamy skin underneath. He wants to fucking _mark_ the other boy as his, living off of the quiet, desperate sounds he’s making in response.

 

Maybe it’s his thought of Sabrina from earlier, but she’s suddenly there too; or perhaps she’s been there the whole time, pressing her body into Nick’s back as she leaves bruises and red skin on the other side of his neck. She takes Harvey’s hand in hers, linking them together like a glove. Her eyes, although filled with lust and desire just like Nick’s, are still hers, still kind and determined, holding everything he loves about her in them.

 

She leans around Nick to kiss him at the same time as the warlock moves to kiss Harvey’s neck. He kisses her with a little more force than normal, pressing leftover energy from making out with her boyfriend into her and she eagerly embraces it, literally purring into his ear, and _wow had Nick been right or what, this was a night he would never forget._

 

Their eyes meet for a second, as she says, “Harvey, I —.”

 

The final bell of the day rings, _rudely_ jolting Harvey out of his thoughts as their teacher reminds his class of their homework assignments. “Now class, a helpful way to understand Hamlet is by watching The Lion King, a movie that’s loosely based from Hamlet. Please watch it by Friday and be ready to discuss the similarities in class.” He briefly scribbles the movie title and the due date on the board as students were getting up to leave.

 

A murmur of excitement spreads through the class at the mention of _watching a Disney movie_ for homework. Harvey had never seen the whole movie through, as a child it had been Tommy’s favorite movie (his had been Peter Pan) and the parts with Scar had terrified him as a five year old. So his brother had to either fast forward through those scenes, or had to hold Harvey’s hand as his face was buried in Tommy’s shoulder. Tommy hadn’t minded, but it had irritated their father to no end, leading to him huffing out of the room and complaining how Tommy was _babying_ him.

 

Once he was out of the classroom, Theo catches up to him in the hallway. “Hey, what’s going on with you? You’ve been pretty out of it lately,” There’s nothing accusatory in his voice, only genuine concern. For a brief second, he hates how good of a person Theo is, all too aware of how he doesn’t deserve him as a friend.

 

He doesn’t want to lie, not wanting to alienate one of his only friends left at Baxter High. _I never stopped being in love with Sabrina, her new boyfriend won’t stop flirting with me and oh right, my only brother is still dead._ He sounds crazy if he actually said that out loud and even if he did, it was a ton of baggage to randomly throw at Theo in a school hallway, of all places.

 

“I’ve just had a lot on my mind, is all.” he says, after a minute of consideration. “I’ve had a ton to process and think about.”

 

Theo doesn’t miss a beat, and okay, _maybe_ he knows Harvey better than he thinks he does because he says, “Alright. I know you’ve been through so much lately, but I don’t want you to feel like you’re alone. Even Roz just wants you to be happy.”

 

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

 

He freezes where they’re walking, noticing just _who_ was standing next to his locker. He looks so damn _good,_ leaning casually against the metal, fingers tapping lazily against it. What in the —

 

“Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow, Theo.” He pauses, adding, “I’m glad we’re friends.” Theo’s eyes follow his gaze with probably a million questions on the tip of his lips about the boy who definitely _didn’t_ attend Baxter High, who he may or may not recognize as Sabrina’s boyfriend. But he lets it slide, clapping him on the shoulder in goodbye as he headed towards his own locker, adding, “Me too, Harvey. Just don’t forget about us when you get caught up in your head, okay? We’re here for you.”

 

He smiles, because that _is_ something he’s needed to hear from someone for a long time, nodding as Theo turns away. And then he’s finally, _finally,_ able to focus his attention on where it’s been all day anyways.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“Hello to you too, sweetheart.” Nick says dryly, his dark eyes studying him carefully.

 

Harvey’s standing next to him, arms crossed and wrapped almost defensively around his jacket.

 

“How do you even know which one is mine?” Harvey asks, his own eyes meeting the warlock’s.

 

“I could’ve used magic, or I could’ve asked Sabrina which one was yours.”

 

“You just _asked_ Sabrina which locker belonged to her ex in a school you don’t even attend?”

 

The corner of Nick’s lip curves upwards, and he holds up his hands. “ _Okay_ , I used magic, you got me.”

 

He’s acutely aware of other student’s eyes on him, curiously flickering to Nick on their way out of school. Harvey ignores them, although he takes a small, nearly unnoticeable step closer to Nick, daring them to say something. If Nick notices, he’s kind enough not to comment.

 

That’s where their differences in personality begin, he reflects. While Harvey prefers the back corners of the room, shouldering off attention and as Nick called it, being the _loner art kid_ , the other embraces the room, drawing everyone in with a soft and confident charisma that Harvey could only dream of having. Being the center of the room was something he thrives off of, standing up straighter and angling himself towards Harvey, the warlock’s attention never wavering from him _._

 

“So, what actually are you doing at my school?” he reiterates, raising an eyebrow dubiously.

 

Nick is still studying his face, almost as if he was memorizing his facial features.

 

“I can’t just drop by to visit my favorite mortal?”

 

His heart skips a beat. _Favorite?_

 

He _had_ used magic just to figure out where Harvey would be today, after all, his brain supplies.

 

“Is that what I am to you?”

 

“You wish. Come on, Harvey.” Nick reaches for his hand, and he lets him take it. It eerily reminds Harvey of his dream from last night, the warlock arriving unannounced and dragging him along for the ride.

 

Against some part of his conscious sending out warning signals, Harvey allows Nick to lead him out of Baxter High, acutely aware he was still holding his hand.

 

* * *

 

It turns out that for all his secrecy, Nick had wanted only a milkshake, he discovers. They were sitting behind Dr. Cerberus’s on a bench, basking in the late spring sun.

 

He was thankful that Sabrina’s aunt hadn’t been working that day to witness Nick insist on paying for his drink and side of French fries, _just like a date_. They received a gentle smile from the man behind the counter and hearing, “You boys have fun now.”

 

“Sabrina has been _raving_ about the milkshakes here, I just had to try one,” Nick says after a minute of silence, shifting next to him.

 

“You can’t just… snap your fingers and make one appear?” Harvey asks, raising an eyebrow.

 

Nick chuckles, glancing at him fondly, almost as though he were a cat that had just done something adorable. “No, there’s more to it than that. There’s a balance, any objects we take need to be replaced. It’s about synchronicity. Like…” he pauses, hesitating over his next words.

 

“Like when Sabrina brought back your brother, someone died to replace him. But since she’s not a killer, that person didn’t stay dead and the spell didn’t work correctly. She came back and it messed up the balance of life.”

 

Harvey hums, not quite knowing what to say to that, his heart still clenching at the mention of Tommy.

 

Noticing his change of mood, Nick slides his hand closer to his, his pinky finger wrapping around his thumb. It’s a small gesture, but so fucking intimate it hurts almost more than being an only child too soon does.

 

“It would’ve been easier if he had just died once,” he says, after a minute. It’s surprisingly easier than he thinks, to stay on the subject.

 

Instead of arguing Sabrina’s case, the other boy just sighs. “For what it’s worth, I had warned her it was a bad idea, messing with this type of dark magic. But you know how she gets when she puts her mind to something; she’s unstoppable. You can either help or get out of her way.”

 

 _Sounds like Sabrina._ He remembers how determined she was to make her W. I. C. C. A. club at school; when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object…

 

“With that attitude, she could be president one day.”

 

Nick actually laughs, a genuine one that makes Harvey smile. “She would love to take down the patriarchy from the inside.”

 

“ _President Spellman._ Now that would be an unstoppable force.”

 

Harvey sips on his milkshake as they settle in to a comfortable silence; the only sound between them the occasional _crunch_ of a French fry.

 

A few more beats pass before the other boy asks, “Do you ever think about talking to her?”

 

Harvey sighs, leaning back on the bench and looking at his feet, as he says, “All the damn time.”

 

He raises his gaze to find Nick staring at him, his usual smug assuredness temporarily missing. Harvey’s eyes trail to the warlock’s neck, lingering far longer than what was appropriate. Again, Nick doesn’t say anything, doesn’t call him out on it, yet moves closer to Harvey on the bench, leaving little space for the imagination between them.

 

He knows that it’s wrong, that a person in a committed relationship shouldn’t be doing this here, right now, with someone who wasn’t their significant other. _Much less_ when it’s their significant other’s ex-boyfriend.

 

No matter how messy their breakup was, he doesn’t want to hurt Sabrina, _especially_ like this; he knows how torn up he would’ve felt if Sabrina had been with Nick before they broke up. He finds it hard to believe she would’ve adapted to this particular witch custom so quickly, that Sabrina would be totally chill about this if she came walking down the street right now and saw them together.

 

But maybe his judgement was a little off-base this afternoon, with that dream still vivid and fresh in his mind. Because Harvey lets it all happen, lets the warlock keep getting closer, closer, _closer._ He just can’t stop his treacherous hand from moving to rest on Nick’s shoulder, Harvey’s fingers brushing along his collarbone. His heart is beating wildly out of control, to the tune of his wildest thoughts coming true.

 

Nick is just so magnetic, so inviting, that Harvey can’t quite stop himself when his eyes fall on his lips. The boy in question moves his hand to Harvey’s hair, running through it and brushing it out of his face. It’s something he used to love doing with Sabrina’s, and Harvey nearly melts when Nick does it to him, gently stroking his hair and playing with the strands. It feels _heaven sent_ ; he understands why cats and dogs like it so much, why the close, intimate feeling of someone petting them brings so much inherent joy.

 

Harvey sighs, his eyes fluttering shut, sinking in to Nick’s touch. Although small, a steadily insistent voice in back of his conscious keeps whispering, _that doesn’t make it any less wrong._

 

With a great deal of effort, Harvey regretfully removes his hand from Nick’s collarbone and extracts the other’s hand from his hair. He feels the loss of contact almost immediately.

 

“I’m sure this isn’t what Sabrina meant when she asked you to check in on me."

 

He’s not sure what Nick would have said in response because as it turns out, they weren’t alone after all.

 

“No, it probably wasn’t.” A dangerously calm female voice interrupts, and he turns to see Sabrina, standing there unwaveringly in front of the pair.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! <3


	4. Moving On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> talking, angst, lots of tension
> 
> *brief implied homophobia two thirds into the chapter, mentioned in passing

 

_All of those lessons we learned them_

_All those mistakes, yeah, we burned them_

_I only hope you feel the same_

_It's a long way up when you start at the bottom_

_And we gave it all_

 

_Moving On — Good Charlotte_

 

* * *

 

_“No, it probably wasn’t.” A dangerously calm female voice interrupts, and he turns to see Sabrina, standing there unwaveringly in front of the pair._

 

“What’s going on here?”

 

Harvey guiltily jumps away from Nick on the bench, sliding his hands in his pockets. As torn about it as he had been, he’s so relieved that he hadn’t let things escalate any further, despite how much he might have wanted them to. If they had, he wouldn’t necessarily be one to complain, but the experience would’ve been marred. He would’ve made himself the _other person_ , the home wrecker, someone’s dirty little secret. Harvey’s been called quite a few names over the last sixteen years, but those were never any of them and it was not a goal on his bucket list.

 

If things continued in any way between himself and Nick, he didn’t want to start things being in the wrong.

 

“I told you I was going to see Harvey this afternoon. We just went to get milkshakes.”

 

He raises his eyebrows at Nick, because talking down to her wasn’t empathetic at _all._ But, the way he phrased it also made him curious — how often did they talk about him? Or was he just being paranoid? That was probably it, he wasn’t that interesting of a person to be the subject of gossip.

 

Sabrina blinks. “So that means you’re making _moves_ on him now?”

 

“Are you following me?” Nick avoids the question, answering one with another.

 

“No, but maybe I should be. I was here to meet Theo and Roz; Dr. Cerberus said my friends were already out back. Imagine that _,_ my _friends_.”

 

He bites his lip, staring at a bush behind her. First he dates Sabrina’s best friend, for however brief a time, and now he’s been seen cozying up with her boyfriend. Maybe _he’s_ the one with a problem; when he can’t be with Sabrina, he just floats aimlessly around other people in her life, moving from one to another until she’s back in his orbit again, hanging the stars in his sky.

 

When Nick just shrugs, she turns to Harvey, and _wow._ He’s forgotten how fierce her personality is, what it was like to have her undivided attention on him. He does his best to ignore how it sends shivers down his spine.

 

He had rarely, if ever, been on the wrong side of Sabrina’s temper, even the worst of their fights, but he had always valued just how dominant and strong-willed she could be. It’s how they worked, with her giving Harvey the courage to do things he couldn’t have dreamt about doing before he met her.

 

“He’s just been uh, popping in on me sometimes these last few months, is all. Like you asked him to.” Harvey says, finally finding his words.

 

“I didn’t think anything would get this far, honestly I’m as surprised as you are. I’m sorry for that,” he adds, apologetically.

 

Sabrina sighs, tugging the sleeves of her jacket down.

 

“Listen, Harvey… I just wanted to know you had someone there for you; I knew it couldn’t be me anymore, so I really thought Nick could help. I wasn’t trying to spy on you or anything like that, if that’s what you think. I know we still have some unresolved issues, I wasn’t trying to manipulate myself back into your life like that, especially before you were ready. It’s important to me you understand that.”

 

She pauses to glare at the warlock, and it’s probably deserved. “That _wasn’t_ to be misconstrued as permission to cheat though, Nick.”

 

Nick awkwardly runs his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry you found out this way, you know. I was going to tell you eventually, I just wanted to give Harvey more time to process it, especially because our community has a different view on sexuality.”

 

“So now it’s my fault?” Harvey asks, thinly veiled indignation clear in his voice. Nick might not have outwardly been accusatory, and might have even been the right idea, letting him have more time to think through things. But he was tired of feeling like he was behind the times because of who he was, how he was raised, what he was taught to believe.

 

“You could’ve just been a friend, you know, but you were flirting with me any time the opportunity arrived. Cultural differences didn’t seem to stop you _then_.” As soon as Harvey snaps those words, his deep conscious contradicts that, whispering, _but could you ever be just friends?_

 

Nick shrugs. “Who wouldn’t want to? I could tell you liked me, but you weren’t going to do anything about it. I just helped... push things along, if you will.”

 

“So you were trying to _seduce_ me?” Harvey says, indignantly. His heart still skips a beat at that, butterflies fluttering around in his stomach despite the rising tension in the air.

 

“I suppose I was, yeah. But you liked it.” He’s so nonchalant about everything that Harvey could scream. It’s probably just a front, a defense mechanism, but it got under his skin regardless. This was way more serious than how flippantly he was acting.

 

Maybe this kind of thing wasn’t a big deal to him, but it was to Harvey. How could Nick act so casual when he was trying to be with both of them at once? His fists clenching, Harvey glowers at him.

 

“Have you been planning this from the beginning? Is this just fun, to you?” he demands, growing more upset the further he continues with this line of thinking.

 

Nick pauses and frowns. “At first it was just fun making you squirm, I thought it was cute. But you were interesting, always sitting alone with your projects and I was roped in, just wanting to know more.”

 

“So you really thought you could have both of us at once? What was your endgame?” Harvey asks, doing his best to hide his disbelief and ignoring that he was _interesting_ to the other boy.

 

Fortunately for Nick, Sabrina cuts in before their argument could escalate any further.

 

“Hey, I understand where everyone’s coming from and I don’t want to invalidate anyone’s feelings, but maybe this isn’t the most productive line of thinking to have at the moment, you guys.”

 

Harvey bites his tongue, because he’s _not done_ , but Sabrina has a point. Overall, this conversation could only get uglier with the path it was heading towards.

 

Sabrina bites her lip, “I don’t mean to put you on the spot, so you don’t have to answer right now, but I think we both deserve to know sooner, rather than later...” She pauses, studying him and choosing her next words carefully.

 

“Do you _want_ to date Nick? Do you really like him?”

 

If he was being honest, he hadn’t even fully addressed the possibility of _dating Nick_ with himself yet. The other boy was wildly out of his league, in looks, in experience, in the fact that he was a warlock. How would that power imbalance even work? He and Sabrina had barely had a chance to address that themselves before their relationship ended.

 

Additionally, Harvey hadn’t addressed anything with his father either, but he would be highly surprised if dating a boy would go over well with him. When he had started dating Sabrina, his father had just grunted and made a negative comment about the Spellmans that made Harvey roll his eyes. Overall though, he had been happy because Harvey was out of the house more often, too busy with his Sabrina to trouble his old man with anything like being a parent.

 

But introducing _Nick_ to his father? Even entertaining the idea makes him want to laugh hysterically. The man hated anything that didn’t conform to his idea of _being a man_ , and Nick was not a traditional guy in the slightest. Personally, Harvey didn’t mind and even found it charming, on occasion, but it would drive his father crazy.

 

Now though, Harvey’s getting overwhelmed as he looks at Sabrina, concerned, earnest, cautious — and Nick, guarded and frustrated. The two were achingly stunning, cut from the same cloth.

 

“Look, I need some time, okay? I’ve just been discovering these things as I go along, and I haven’t really figured anything out...” he trails off, uncertainly. Harvey’s nerves feel fried, caught in something too big for him.

 

“Alright, take all the time you need.” Sabrina pauses, frowning to herself before continuing. “I _do_ miss you a lot, Harvey. You should know that. Things had just gotten so messy between us and it was largely my fault, especially after the Dark Lord got involved, and I didn’t think you wanted anything to do with me anymore.”

 

 _Dark Lord?_ He makes a mental note to ask her about that later because _that_ sounded concerning as hell. He hadn’t expected that her life would stop moving when they stopped contact, but _Dark Lord?_ It certainly had escalated since they had talked last.

 

Maybe it shows on his face directly because she adds, gently,

 

“Don’t worry, Harvey, we’re handling it.”

 

He nods with dubiously raised eyebrows, a silent, _sure Sabrina._ He was definitely not letting that go and definitely questioning her at another date, because that wasn’t nearly as convincing as she wanted it to be.

 

“I’ve been miserable without you, too, you know,” Harvey says, shoving his hands in his pockets again. “I know I was upset with you for lying, for a handful of things. But I realized that I don’t care you have magic powers, I cared about what you did with them. I wish I could have handled it better, at least about accepting who you were, but I was already in a pretty bad place at the time.”

 

He takes a deep breath, gathering himself before speaking again. “I know I spiraled, and maybe I still am, in a sense. But the closest I’ve felt to feeling like myself again was when Nick started hanging around.” It feels so relieving to get that off his chest; it had been buried there for months, fighting with his apathetic heart to get out in the open.

 

Nick, who had been largely silent as of late, perked up at the mention of his name.

 

Nick, who steps over to where he and Sabrina had been standing. “Look, Sabrina, I didn’t mean for things to get this far without telling you. But I do admit, I was pretty curious what had you so infatuated with him in the first place, _a simple mortal,_ and wanted to find out for myself. And he was just so depressed, almost like a kicked puppy, that I wanted to do something to help, and I think it got carried away _._ “

 

She’s silent for a minute, resting a hand on her hips before speaking again.

 

“So did you? Find out what was _so great_ about Harvey?” Sabrina doesn’t seem as upset anymore, there’s less bite in her tone. But because he knows her so well, he’s acutely aware that Nick is still on thin ice. Behind her eyes, there’s a storm brewing and Harvey has a feeling she’ll be talking to the warlock on her own time about all of this later.

 

The Nick in question looks at him, and he means _really_ stares intently, so direct that Harvey starts blushing a little on his neck. _Really, now? Come on._ He really hates his body sometimes.

 

“I think I did. Endearingly cute, a broody and talented artist. Not much of a fashion sense though, but that can be taught.”

 

She wasn’t standing that far away from them to begin with, but Sabrina snorts and walks even closer; taking his hands in hers.

 

“Harvey, what do you want?”

 

They still hadn’t really talked yet, but he _had_ been pining over this girl for months, still as painfully in love with her as ever. And suddenly, that seemed to outweigh any cons left rattling around in his head. Sure, she had done some terrible things, but he would need to let them go if he ever wanted Sabrina in his life again. The last few months without her, while admittedly necessary, had served only as a bitter reminder that his life was so much _better_ including Sabrina.

 

His eyes fall to her dark red lips, trailing down to her neck when she swallows nervously, her pale chest, lingering at the patch of skin showing on her waist where her shirt wasn’t totally tucked in, all the way down to her toes. A treacherous idea sneaks into his mind, _kiss her, kiss her._ That’s what he wants, Harvey realizes; he still wants to fucking kiss her, after all this time. What did a normal person do, when they liked two people at the same time? He’s asking for a friend.

 

Harvey’s eyes raise back up to meet hers.

 

But.

 

This was important, and he didn’t want to mess it up with any other rash decisions today.

 

“Why don’t we just take a breather for now and reconvene in a couple days? I could really use the time to think everything over.”

 

Sabrina nods. “I think that’s a good idea.”

 

Nick shrugs, noncommittally. _Right._

 

She squeezes his hand gently and kisses Harvey on the cheek. Then, Sabrina moves to kiss Nick, and Harvey watches as he leans in to her touch, turning to kiss her briefly on the lips.

 

“I’ll see you two later, alright? We aren’t finished talking.”

 

“Yeah, I know. Have fun, ‘Brina," Harvey says, forcing a reassuring smile her way.

 

It’s still light enough to see her lip curve upwards when the old nickname slips out accidentally, and it’s totally worth it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to [duchessofthirst](https://archiveofourown.org/users/duchessofthirst) for editing this gem. The chapter was soooo hard to write I needed a hand keeping everyone in character.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think!


	5. With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> angst, tension, flirting and conversations

_I want you to know: with everything, I won’t let this go_

_These words are my heart and soul_

_I’ll hold on to this moment, you know_

_‘Cause I’d bleed my heart out to show,_

_That I won’t let go_

 

_With Me — Sum 41_

 

* * *

 

Harvey’s sitting at his desk with his homework in front of him, doing his absolute best to finish it, _really, he’s trying,_ but his attention keeps flying elsewhere.

 

He  _wants_ to focus on Chemistry; so much so that his father even believed he was working on the assignment when he had checked in on Harvey earlier that evening. But it’s near impossible to when his head keeps defaulting back to Sabrina, to Nick, to what the two of them might be doing together on this rainy Thursday night. It had been his idea to meet at a later date, to really talk after the dust has settled, so Harvey figures it’s also his call to suggest that they do.

 

And it’s not that he doesn’t _want_ to, he’s not necessarily putting it off or God forbid, _ghosting_ them, but there needs to be boundaries, structure, communication. He’s not really sure how any of it would work, and if he’s being honest, Harvey’s still kind of upset with Nick.

 

Additionally, it’s too delicate of a concept to just… put on the back burner while the rest of the world keeps moving without him, in unrelenting fervor.

 

It’s incredibly frustrating, Harvey thinks with a sigh as his head dips forward to lean on his desk, the cool wood providing a nice relief on his forehead. His hands fall to his neck, massaging the stressed, tight skin softly.

 

He _knows_ he’s not going to be able to finish his homework when his mind is like this, tied up in all the wrong things. As his eyes fluttered shut and his mind fades away, he gives in to those worries and entirely gives up on his Chem lab that quite honestly, didn’t make much sense to him in the first place.

 

In a situation like this, where would he even land? Harvey had spent such a long time feeling like he was falling away, falling apart, that he wasn’t sure how to stop. He had been miserable for so long it had become almost like a habit he had to break. And _how could he stop, anyways,_ when falling had landed him right next to Nick and on top of that, back in Sabrina’s orbit? Right where he had wanted to be all along, it turns out.

 

Running a hand through his hair, Harvey sighs heavily and groans before an idea hits him. It’s lame, predictable and cringeworthy teenage boyish but, maybe a little… relaxing would help him concentrate. He leans back in his chair, spreading his legs wide and as his hand slides over his thighs, rubbing himself a little through the rough denim.

 

Harvey grunts and bites his lower lip, slipping his hand under his jeans and repeating the action through his briefs, the thin fabric the only thing separating direct skin to skin contact. Closing his eyes, he lets himself imagine _vividly_ what chemistry could be; Nick, approaching him in the bedroom. Nick, on his knees looking up at Harvey with utter reverence, his usual smug arrogance nowhere to be found and not taking his hands off of him. He’s half hard already at just the mere thought and if he murmurs _Nick_ under his breath, no one’s the wiser.

 

He ignores the guilty tick in his head, that it feels a little wrong to be doing this while they’re in a ‘fight’, so to speak. Maybe he should hold off until all three of them hash it out again, until he, Sabrina and Nick are all on the same page. _But,_ he reminds himself that Nick has been much more promiscuous in his lifetime than Harvey has, engaging in only God knows what. Which maybe isn’t an excuse, but it could buy him some moral forgiveness, if only for tonight.

 

His hand falls back on his thighs, already picturing what nonsense they could get into. However, he never fully gets to finish that train of thinking because suddenly a voice that most definitely did _not_ belong to him pierces through the silence.

 

“Hey, Harvey.”

 

Harvey nearly jumps out of his skin, spinning around as his hands clench around the first weapon he could find nearby — a pen, what the hell — before he realizes who it belongs to.

 

_Of course, it’s Nick._

 

He’s leaning casually against his windowsill, running a hand through his hair. Eyes wide and heart still beating fast, Harvey stands up. “Nick. What are you doing here?”

 

“Normal people usually give a greeting in return, you know,” Nick says, cocking his head to the side.

 

Harvey doesn't get a chance to respond because he keeps talking, almost nervously.

 

“I just wanted to stop by. I had a long talk with Sabrina about _boundaries_ this evening. I’m sorry I overstepped, I got more carried away than I planned. I just wanted you to realize that you liked me, that’s all. And to see you perk up a little; the rest happened all on it’s own,” Nick shifts to cross his arms around each other.

 

He tries not to stare at the warlock’s creamy hands for too long because _he had just literally been imagining what those hands were doing to him a few seconds ago._ Harvey’s eyes trail down to the floor, averting the other’s dark, questioning eyes.

 

With that in mind, a lot of the resentment he had felt towards Nick slowly fizzled away, evaporating. Sure, there were still some things that should be addressed and it’s not all gone after one apology, but he’s thinking for the first time in a while that _maybe, just maybe_ everything would be okay. Harvey can almost feel Sabrina’s influence on those words lingering in the room, present without being physically there with them.

 

Before he even knows what he’s saying to stop himself, Harvey blurts out, “What makes you think that I do? Like you?”

 

He nearly gags because _oh God,_ he’s flirting.

 

To his credit, Nick only looks a little surprised before he laughs. “True, I suppose I shouldn’t assume, but you could call it an educated guess. Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that because I didn’t like how things were left the other day. Oh, and before I forget to mention it, Sabrina has a book on witch culture for you. She thought you might like to learn more about our customs since they vary so much from mortal ones.”

 

So she _had_ noticed, Harvey realizes, a warm feeling spreading through him. “Why didn’t you bring it?”

 

“Oh, I’m just astroprojecting, I’m not really here. I had to go straight back to the academy. Besides, it gives you an excuse to go see her.”

 

“ _Astroprojecting?”_ Harvey echos, just barely being able to contain his disbelief.

 

“Being able to project your spirit outside of the room you’re physically in.” Nick explains, not unkindly. Oh, right of course, he thinks, dryly. Harvey really should go snag that book from Sabrina soon because _what the fuck._

 

“So, what were you doing before I popped in? It looked like I interrupted something,” the warlock continued, waggling his eyebrows.

 

Harvey really does his best to stop the surprised blush, but he’s certain that a small one on his cheeks forms anyways. _Ergh._ Was Nick really that intuitive or was he just reaching? Either way, leave it to him to not miss anything with even a hint of sex to it, he thinks with an eyeroll. There’s a lot he could say in response, but he goes with something simple.

 

“Oh, just some homework assignments,” Harvey says, lightly bluffing.

 

“What would’ve happened if I hadn’t interrupted?” Nick presses, a knowing glint in his eyes. He’s standing only a few feet away from him now, and even if he wasn’t really there, Harvey can’t help but want to reach out and touch for _more, more, more._

 

_If you ever need a bit of danger in your life…_

 

Harvey swallows and takes a nearly unnoticeable half step back.

 

“ _Goodnight,_ Nick,” If it wasn’t there before, his face is definitely flushed now.

 

Laughing, the warlock says, “I’m always down to _watch_ , you know. It’s a shame I interrupted the show. But I’ll see you around, Harv.”

 

Nick disappears as silently as he arrives, and he lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He just called Harvey masturbating a _show;_ faintly, he wonders if buying a cowbell for the other to wear would help alert him to Nick’s unannounced visits. Not that it would work on spirits, he knows that, but it’s an idea nonetheless.

 

Pulling out his phone, he sends a text to Sabrina. _Meet after school tomorrow?_

 

It takes a while for her to reply, and right when he starts to think she’s fallen asleep, his phone buzzes. _Sure, come over then. Would love to see you._

 

Harvey smiles and starts getting ready for bed. And if he lets himself imagine what could have happened if Nick had really been present in his room tonight, no one could report it.

 

* * *

 

School the following day had been torture, going by so slowly Harvey was certain for a while that it would never end. When the final bell _finally_ rings, he’s never moved faster in his life, throwing vague excuses to Theo and Roz about a study group after school he’s rushing to get to. Things with Roz have almost returned to normal, which is nice. She’s dating a moderately attractive guy from the yearbook club now and he seems really good for her. Much better of a match than he was.

 

The walk to Sabrina’s house is achingly familiar, he thinks as he walks down the cobblestone path. He remembers all the times he walked her home — after school, dances, movie dates with their friends. No matter what, he and Sabrina had always wound up back here, at her house. They had had several make out sessions out here, he recalls fondly, looking up at the front porch.

 

Taking a deep breath, Harvey walks up the steps and rings the doorbell. It swings open on it’s own, and he sees Ambrose answered it, standing calmly in the hallway munching on an apple. His eyebrows are raised in a blanketed curiosity; Harvey can hear the _crunch_ of the apple as Ambrose chews.

 

“Didn’t think I’d see you again, Harvey. She’s up in her room.” With that, Ambrose cooly walks away, disappearing into another corner of the house that he’s probably never seen before. It’s a small comfort knowing that some things don’t change, her cousin as mysteriously aloof as he was before their break up.

 

“Thanks, Ambrose. Nice to see you again, too.” he calls back, sarcastically.

 

“Harvey! I thought I heard the doorbell ring,” Sabrina says. She’s standing at the top of the stairs, dressed in all black today.

 

“Hey, Sabrina!” he heads up to meet her, and Sabrina’s lips curve upwards in a smile.

 

“It’s good to see you, Harvey,” she says, warmly.

 

“You too, you know,” he replies, lamely.

 

Suddenly he’s nervous — it’s the first time they’ve been alone together since their breakup and what if — what if they don’t work together anymore? What if they’ve changed too much, grown too far apart to recover? Harvey had spent so long wanting something, anything with Sabrina it might be too good to be true.

 

She takes his hand, her small fingers pressing softly against his reassuringly as she leads him back to her room.

 

Sabrina pulls out her desk chair for Harvey to sit in as she perches at the foot of her bed.

 

“How was your day?” she asks, after a minute of awkward silence. Her hands fidget nervously in her lap, fingers tapping her thigh.

 

“It was alright, the day went by pretty slowly. What about you?”

 

“I didn’t slay any demons today, but it was still hectic. You always have to have your guard up there,” Sabrina says, shrugging.

 

“Oh! Don’t let me forget, here’s that book on witch customs that Nick might’ve mentioned earlier. It might help you feel more in tune with everything going on in our lives,” The book is lying on the floor, next to her bed. As she leans down to grab it, he gets a straight on view of her cleavage, standing out delightfully against her dark lace shirt.

 

 _You still don’t have the right to look, yet._ His conscious reprimands him, and Harvey blinks, looking at a fixed point on the wall behind her instead. 

 

“Here. This was my father’s — he actually wrote it for my mom, too. It summarizes a lot of what we do,” she straightens up, adjusting her skirt as she passes it to him. He ignores the electricity that runs through his fingers as their hands brush together, the fact she's giving him some history from her parents humming in his brain.

 

“Thanks,” he smiles and flips through it. Eyes widening as he lands on a page at random, he repeats it back to Sabrina in wonder, confusion, anxiety hinted in his voice. “ _Lupercalia?_ ”

 

“Of course you would land on that one,” she laughs, dryly. “According to my aunties, it began as a celebration of fertility, very similar to Valentine’s Day. Now it’s just an excuse to fraternize and hook up with our classmates.”

 

“So almost the same as Baxter High, huh?”

 

Sabrina giggles, and Harvey missed that sound more than he realized. “Essentially. Nick and I... were partners last time.”

 

His smile fades, maybe not in the way she’d think at the mention of Nick, another worry gripping him. Would that be another path where he couldn’t follow? How could he date and commit to Sabrina when he was only half in her world?

 

As smart as she is, Sabrina doesn’t miss this change of attitude either, always seeming to be on Harvey’s wavelength.

 

“We could sneak you in, you know. The actual act is done privately, no one would notice you’re there and we can keep you safe.”

 

_But he’d still be the dumb mortal that follows after them like a puppy._

 

Honestly, Harvey doesn’t even realize that he said that last bit out loud. He doesn’t think anything of it until the tension in the room doubles tenfold, Sabrina wearing a surprised and indignant expression, sadness hidden in the crevices of her eyes. _Oops._

 

“Is that… is that really what you think of yourself?” her voice is gentle, sad, and _so_ soft it hurts right in his gut anyways, even though that’s not her intention.

 

Harvey stares at his feet, avoiding her piercing eyes. “I mean, I’ll always be a step behind you, behind Nick. It’s why I never reached out sooner — it’d be easier if you dated someone more your speed.”

 

Sabrina walks over, taking his hands and kneeling in front of him. His fingers react to her touch, curling into hers. “Neither of us think that you’re stupid, Harvey. I — we think you’re a compassionate, smart, _sexy,_ talented artist. There’s nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed of. _Nothing_.”

 

Her dark eyes pierce into his, and he thinks maybe she can believe that enough for the both of them.

 

She presses a kiss to his palm, pausing for a second before adding, lightly, “Also, you’ve known me for a long time, Harvey. When have I ever chosen the easy way out for _anything?”_

 

He laughs, meeting her gaze as he squeezes her hand a little tighter because yes, that's a great point.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PHEW, 12k words already?? These characters have been so fun to write, I hope everyone's enjoying it as much as I am writing them!


	6. Saturday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens at a Spellman party stays at the Spellmans

_I’m good to go for something golden_

_Though the motions I’ve been going through have failed_

_And I’m coasting on potential towards a wall_

_At 100 miles an hour_

 

_Saturday — Fall Out Boy_

 

* * *

 

Harvey is walking towards Sabrina’s house, the usual crisp spring air heavy around him this evening. His thoughts are bouncing all over the place, and Harvey shoves his hands in his pockets as he heads over.

 

Sabrina had invited him to a party at her place after they talked last week, and how was he supposed to refuse her when she said things like _Harvey please? It’ll be fun — Nick will be there._

 

Those words echoed in him now, _Harvey please,_ for entirely different reasons and he shivers, shaking his head to clear it. And he wasn’t going to address the fact that she was using her boyfriend to lure him to parties, because that was just his life now.

 

Tugging down the sleeves of one of Tommy’s old leather jackets, Harvey checks the time on his phone. It definitely wasn’t that he was so nervous he showed up early, too antsy to hang around his house anymore and draw attention from his father. He just needed to get out of the house, pronto. The man had actually stayed home for the night, and to say things had been tense would be an understatement.

 

The jacket doesn’t smell like Tommy anymore (just must from being stored in his closet) but it helps, having a piece of his brother with him. He hasn’t been to a party since Tommy died, so he thought it would bring him some kind of inner courage. His brother had never been afraid to go after what he wanted; Tommy had gotten a scholarship to _Notre freaking Dame_ after all _,_ but he had opted to stay here in Greendale, choosing to be a brother to Harvey instead.

 

And for all that he appreciated Tommy for staying — he might not have made it without him around — look what that did. Greendale killed him. Would he still be alive if he had accepted their offer, moved to Indiana? The thought crosses his mind almost daily, haunting Harvey endlessly.

 

Harvey pauses, crossing his arms as he stops in his tracks. This was _not_ the mood to head into a loud, fun party with, and he takes a few deep breaths, trying his best to calm down — clear his mind.

 

Feeling better with the fresh air around him, he continued walking up the path to her house. It looked like it had already started, even though he was on the earlier side. Music was blasting and he could see a crowd of people inside as well as out in her backyard.

 

Harvey moves to walk up the porch steps, a familiar enough action for him. But something stops him as he reached the top, hesitating. Staring through the windows, Harvey realizes he still feels like an outsider looking in, and he _nearly_ talks himself into turning around and going home, muttering under his breath at how he knew this was a bad idea.

 

He doesn’t belong at a party like this, there’s way more people here than the number of people he’s talked to in months. How does he fit in with all of their witch classmates? Short answer, he doesn’t _._ Every bone in his body wants to leave and go home where it’s quiet, where he can breathe.

 

But he remembers Sabrina’s light, pleading eyes and a _Harvey, please?_

 

His heart catches in his throat.

 

However, before he can continue down this current path of self misery and hatred, Sabrina’s cat Salem, _a black cat, yes original_ , wraps around his legs. Harvey can hear it purring even against the blaring music.

 

“Hey little guy, remember me?” He squats down, stroking Salem’s belly. He gives a meow in response, pausing for a few seconds as Salem enjoys the attention, rolling around on his belly. However, he still bolts up to the door when he’s done, nearly throwing him off balance. If Harvey didn’t know better, he’d say the cat was hinting at leading him inside.

 

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Harvey chuckles as he follows Salem into the house, but that doesn’t necessarily put his nerves at ease. The cat disappears up the stairs, probably to hide out in Sabrina’s room for the remainder of the night in peace.

 

Harvey pauses on where to go next, throngs of people he had never met buzzing around him. He decides on the kitchen, which he discovers shortly has become a makeshift bar. Ambrose was serving drinks at the counter, his free arm wrapped around the waist of a dark-skinned girl with short hair.

 

“Harvey!” Ambrose calls when he sees him approaching. “Sabrina’s been looking for you.”

 

“Where is she?” he shouts, above the noise.

 

Ambrose motions vaguely to the backyard outside, where a dance floor has been set up. “Want anything to drink?” He gestures towards the abundance of vodka, tequila and beer selections in front of him, and _wow_ , Harvey thinks. The Spellmans really don’t hold back on a party.

 

Drinking had never really been his thing; Tommy had done his fair share of partying when he was around, probably to forget how shitty their life was, but Harvey had seen first hand what alcohol did to his father, and he had no desire to turn in to the man. Maybe it shows on his face, because Ambrose reads him very easily, reaching in the fridge without another thought to pull out a liter of Coca Cola.

 

“Here, Harvey. Don’t let that drink out of your sight,” he warns, pouring it into the solo cup and handing it to him. The girl next to him doesn’t say anything, eyeing him coolly. He sees her turn to make a comment to Ambrose as he’s leaving, and the way she does it makes Harvey certain she’s talking about him.

 

_So that’s Sabrina’s mortal ex, huh?_

 

Harvey nods, moving to head outside. Really, he’s not even alone for very long because guess who bumps into him, using it as an excuse to brush a hand on his thigh.

 

_“Harvey, you made it!”_

 

Nick isn’t drunk necessarily, but he’s getting there, a mixed drink resting in his hand that sloshes over the rim, dripping onto his hand. He tries not to stare, and he's got the sudden desire to lick the liquid off of his hands. That’s not weird at all. 

 

“Hey Nick!”

 

Nick’s face is flushed, his shirt is untucked and his hair was a mess. But he’s never looked more alive, looking like he belongs here in this madness of a party. He hasn’t necessarily stepped away from Harvey either, standing only a few inches away from him so that it’s not invasive, but he can still see the beads of sweat dripping down Nick’s neck.

 

They haven’t spoken since Nick astroprojected in his room that night last week, the same night Harvey came harder than he ever has in his life after the warlock left his room. His face heats up at the memory, and he’s glad he can blame it on the crowded room, even though that has nothing to do with it.

 

“Come on, let’s go see Sabrina.”

 

Nick grabs his hand that he hopes isn’t too hot and clammy, leading him out into the backyard. He spots her before Nick does, always the first person he sees in a room no matter what’s going on. She’s so beautiful, so alive, so natural, dancing on the grass.

 

For a split second, he still gets the feeling that he doesn’t belong here, but the other guests he assumes are their classmates aren’t paying him any attention, which is oddly reassuring. Additionally, Harvey’s pretty sure that Nick hasn’t taken his eyes off of him, flickering between him and Sabrina out on the floor.

 

“She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?” Nick comments absentmindedly. He’s still holding on to Harvey’s hand, a few of their fingers lazily brushing together. He feels the spark of energy the action brings, and Harvey only wants to hold on tighter.

 

Sabrina’s swaying her hips to the beat of the music, laughing as her hair blows in the gentle spring breeze coming through. Wearing a lacy black dress, it compliments her pale skin perfectly. She still hasn’t noticed them yet, and Harvey isn’t consciously aware, but he shifts a little closer to Nick, letting their arms knock against each other.

 

Nick began rubbing circles on Harvey’s palm with his thumb lazily, his eyes still trained on Sabrina dancing.

 

Harvey hums in agreement, watching her twirl around to the song, one of the latest radio bops.

 

Maybe it’s the party atmosphere, maybe it’s how soft Nick’s hand is against his skin, maybe someone cursed his drink with a love potion. But he wants to kiss the other boy more than anything he's ever wanted before.

 

Well, he’s always wanted to, even when he didn’t want to admit it. But now he can _act_ and it wouldn’t necessarily be a slap in the face to Sabrina.

 

“Hey,” Nick is staring at him now, his hand reaching out to turn Harvey’s chin to face him, not for the first time. His skin is prickling with tension — Harvey’s not sure he’s ever been more tense in his life, honestly.

 

_The brooding artist is a good look on you._

 

Harvey’s eyes drop to his lips, transparent as ever.

 

Nick’s face is unreadable, but his eyes are dark, staring at Harvey in a way he hasn’t before. Biting his lip, Nick cocks his head to the side as if deciding what to say next, his hand still resting in Harvey’s. They’re so close, his heart is thudding and he can only assume that Nick can tell, the way he was leaning into Harvey.

 

“Hey guys!”

 

Nick startles, stepping away from him and letting go of his hand.

 

Coughing, Harvey sees it’s Theo and Roz who seem to have had quite a handful of drinks already, since they were annoyingly _unaware they had interrupted anything at all._

 

Whatever it was, anyways.

 

“Are you two having fun?” he asks, raising his eyebrows.

 

Roz laughs, leaning on a swaying Theo. “Ambrose made us these pink drinks that are just to die for.”

 

“Maybe you should uh, see if he’ll get you guys some water,” Nick suggests, pointedly.

 

Theo agrees easily enough, stumbling to the doors. Of course, ever the observant one, Roz pauses, turning back to them. “What were you two doing back here anyways?”

 

Forcing a thin smile, Harvey shakes his head no. “Don’t worry about it, Roz.”

 

 _“Okay.”_ She doesn’t look like she buys it at all, but Roz doesn’t press it. Giving him a sad smile before following Theo inside, Roz says, “I hope you can go after what you really want, one day.”

 

_Had she seen something? What does that even mean?_

 

After a minute of awkward silence that consisted of Nick pursing his lips and wistfully staring at his near-empty cup, Nick sighs. “You know what? Let’s go dance.”

 

He proceeds to drag Harvey out on the dance floor, pulling him through the crowd until they reached Sabrina.

 

Dancing was _really_ not his thing, thank you very much. His skin is crawling being around this many people, and he has most certainly taken his eyes off his drink by now, Ambrose’s warning echoing in the far back corner of his mind. But he suffers through it because as long as Sabrina’s around, he knows he’ll be okay anywhere.

 

“Harvey!”

 

Sabrina captures their attention, moving over to where he and Nick were standing.

 

Turning to Nick she smiles, saying, “Thanks for keeping him entertained.”

 

Nick gives her a mock salute, and she rolls her eyes teasingly.

 

“You look great, you know,” Harvey says, blandly. It’s hard for him not to blatantly stare at her, fascinated when she was dressed in her little black dress the way she was.

 

Sabrina grins anyways, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. “I’m so glad you’re here. Are you having a good time?”

 

Harvey nods, sipping his drink. The party was a little much for him, but the company, on the other hand...

 

“Come on, dance with me,” Sabrina says. He blinks, and how could he say no to her? Helpless to refuse when she’s looking at him like that, Harvey lets her pull him in close, swaying to the beat of the music.

 

He turns to look for Nick, but he’s disappeared. _Probably looking for another drink._

 

“We talked for a while, you know,” Sabrina says, after a few minutes. “I thought about it, and I just want you to be happy, Harvey. So if seeing me and Nick at the same time would, then…”

 

He stares at her in surprise, but then again, he really shouldn’t be. Harvey knew she’d do anything for the people she cared about, and apparently there wasn’t a limit for what she would do for them. “Are you serious?”

 

Sabrina laughs at that. “Yes, Harvey. Witches don’t judge sexuality the way we’re used to, it’s something we embrace. What we’re thinking about is much more normal in our culture — it’s okay to feel this way, really. I know we've said it before, but I just want to reassure you.”

 

Reaching for his hands, her slender ones press into his.

 

“I missed you,” he says, and she’s looking at him like he’s _everything._

 

They’re so close in her backyard, Harvey wants nothing more than to kiss her right then and there. He lets his head rest on her collarbone, pressing close to her. Sabrina leans into him, and his arms wrap around her lower waist.

 

Almost instinctively, he presses his lips into her neck, gently sucking the pearly white skin. Harvey feels her vibrate against him, and he realizes shortly that she’s moaning into him.

 

She sighs, running her hands in his hair. This, right here, feels pretty amazing — just like old times. Before Tommy, before he found out all of Sabrina’s heartbreaking secret life. It reminds him of all the quiet, peaceful moments they had, lying on her bed dreaming of their future together.

 

Everything in the moment felt right, and despite all his earlier misgivings, he belonged here with her.

 

_But wait. Something was missing._

 

“Hey, where’s Nick? He hasn’t been back in a while,” he asks, pulling away some.

 

Sabrina frowns, her eyes full of concern. “Let’s go find him, I’m sure he just got distracted somewhere. He’s like that at times.”

 

She leads the way out of the crowd and into her house; his arm sneaks around her waist, tugging Sabrina closer to him.

 

After about ten minutes of searching and coming up with nothing, Harvey asks what they had both been thinking. “Do you think he went home?”

 

Her eyebrows are furrowed in concentration, lips curving downwards in a frown still. A few seconds later, she seems to come to a realization and snaps her fingers. “Hey, let’s check my room, no one’s been up there in a while.”

 

Harvey nods and they turn to head up the stairs nervously. Each step feels like it adds tension between them, and he can’t necessarily explain why.

 

Her door is cracked open — there he is. Nick was lying on Sabrina’s bed and stroking Salem on his stomach almost possessively.

 

_“It’s funny, you know. It’s easier talking to an animal than people sometimes.”_

 

“Nick! We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Sabrina opens the door and slips away from Harvey. It’s easy enough pretending like he doesn’t miss the warmth of her body against him, the cold air unwelcome against his skin.

 

“Heeeeey!” the warlock sits up in bed, slurring his words more dramatically than before. “I had a few extra shots with Ambrose, he dared me to.”

 

Sabrina rolls her eyes and mutters under her breath, “I’ll have to have a talk with him about over-serving.”

 

“Was anything on your mind?” Harvey prompts, concerned.

 

“No!” Nick sways where he was sitting. “Yes, wait. You.” He’s painfully drunk, pointing at Harvey.

 

“Me?”

 

“Hey, let’s get Nick to bed, okay?” Sabrina intervenes. “I think he’s had enough, he can stay here tonight.”

 

“Alright,” Harvey nods, and she moves to take off his shoes and get him under the covers. He opts to focuses on taking his jacket off, and Nick laughs. “Getting me undressed, are you?”

 

Harvey snorts. “Yeah, that’s what we’re doing.”

 

Nick pauses to swallow a handful of times, and Harvey wonders if the room is spinning for him.

 

“ _Harvey.”_ The warlock suddenly grabs the collar of his shirt, pulling Harvey mere inches away from his lips. So close he could kiss Nick, like they almost had earlier in the backyard.

 

“N-Nick. What are you doing?” he freezes.

 

Sabrina’s still at the foot of the bed, her eyes on them as she prepared the blankets.

 

“You’re pretty cute, you know?” With that, Nick winks as he rolls over on the sheets and promptly falls asleep.

 

Harvey meets her eyes, and Sabrina grins reassuringly. “We’ll take good care of him.”

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quickly turning into a game of 'how many times can Nick and Harvey *almost* kiss,’ isn't it?
> 
> Let me know what you think, this was a little longer than normal!
> 
> Just an fyi, I’ll be on vacation next weekend so there will be a lull on the weekly updates ❤️


	7. It's Always Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you asked for it, you got it! xoxo

_Well it's 4 AM and it seems to me_

_Tonight's not going down in history_

_But I'll tell you something honey_

_It's always better when I'm with you_

 

_It’s Always Better — I Hate Kate_

 

* * *

 

Blinking his eyes open groggily and squinting from the bright window light, Harvey stretches his arms out wide. He wonders briefly where he is for a minute, trying to gather his bearings. As he looks around the room, Harvey’s met square in the face with a head of blonde hair. _Oh, Sabrina_.

 

He must have spent the night on the floor with her, _because ouch_ , his neck absolutely killed. An arm of hers was lying loosely around his waist as she slept quietly next to him. Knowing his luck it’s probably an ungodly hour of the morning, and Harvey hates he can’t naturally sleep in anymore.

 

Harvey sits up the best he can without disturbing her, and yes, all of his clothes were still on — minus his shoes. They had let Nick have the bed (that was big enough for two, and Sabrina reassured him there were spells she could perform later when she wasn’t drunk), but they had gotten to talking after they put the warlock to sleep — fondly reminiscing about old times they had together. It left Harvey to _almost_ forget why they broke up, wondering how he could have ever given this up in the first place.

 

Almost, anyways.

 

Lying back down, he recalls some of their time together last night.

 

_The conversation had faded away, and they were sitting with their backs to her bed, Sabrina leaning against his shoulder. Harvey ran his fingers through her hair and he loved hearing her sigh contentedly, snuggling closer. She presses a kiss on his lips, murmuring softly, “Don’t change too much, Harv. I like you the way you are.”_

 

_It felt almost like coming home did, but to a real home — one with love in it._

 

_He heard himself laugh and kissed her again. “No promises, ‘Brina.”_

 

_She giggled and intertwined their hands together, kissing his hand._

  


It was a little hard to believe that had even happened, how close they had been. They hadn’t kissed yet, Sabrina had wanted to but she was also a little too drunk; he reassured her there wasn’t a rush, he wasn’t going anywhere and they had all the time in the world.

 

Her body is warm next to his, wrapped under the extra comforter Sabrina had found in her closet. Despite being on the floor, it was so nice having a small moment like this, away from all the noise, pressure, expectations from everyone around him.

 

Turning to look at the bed, Harvey can see Nick sprawled across it, half of the blankets on the floor and the other half haphazardly mixed in between his legs. With that image in mind, he understands why she was okay sleeping on the floor.

 

He takes a sip from the glass of water nearby and settles back in, letting Sabrina’s light breathing lull him back to sleep.

 

*

 

When Harvey wakes up a second time later that morning, Sabrina is still fast asleep, but he finds that Nick has woken up and joined them on the floor and cuddling Sabrina on her free side. He’s wide awake, running circles on her bare skin. Remembering how that felt when Nick did that to his hand, Harvey shudders. He’s glad the blanket hides it.

 

“Hey, Kinkle,” Nick says, quietly. His voice is a little raspy but otherwise he looks okay, much better than his father did after a night of binge drinking.

 

“Hey, how are you feeling?”

 

Nick snorts. “Like I was hit by a wall. Hangovers don’t last very long for us though, I’ll bounce back soon.”

 

_Of course they don’t._

 

“So, what was that really about?” Harvey asked.

 

Nick doesn’t quite meet his eyes, looking down at Sabrina instead. “Who says there’s a reason?”

 

“You could call it a hunch, intuition perhaps,” he replied. His fingers run down Sabrina’s arm, lightly brushing against Nick’s in the process.

 

Nick is quiet for another minute or two, long enough that Harvey almost lets it go; he doesn’t want to force the warlock to say anything he wasn’t ready to share.

 

His eyes are still trained on Sabrina, his expression a mix between troubled and thoughtful. And then it seemed Nick made up his mind — his hand stays on Sabrina, but his gaze snaps to meet Harvey’s and it’s so suddenly intense that Harvey freezes. He’s pretty sure his heart stops beating altogether as he stares back.

 

“You got in my head, that’s what. Don’t you know what you do to me?” 

 

He’s saved from replying from that bombshell thankfully, because Sabrina stirs, her eyes blinking open in the late morning light.

 

“Now I could get used to waking up like this,” she says, yawning as she stretched her arms out wide behind her. “How did you guys sleep?”

 

“Just fine,” his voice comes out strangled, not quite sounding like his own and Harvey hates it, but it’s hard to concentrate when Nick is looking at him like _that._

 

As intuitive as she was, Sabrina seemed to catch on to the tension in the room quickly enough, not-so-subtly saying, “Well, I’m gonna go get some breakfast, do you guys want anything? Aunt Hilda’s making eggs.”

 

Food was the last thing on his mind at the moment, but Harvey’s stomach rumbles in response and he realizes, _yes food would be great, thanks._

 

“Sure, that’d be great.”

 

Nick nods in agreement and she hums as she walked to the door, “I’ll get cleaned up and be back in a little bit with some breakfast. Don’t get too crazy while I’m gone.”

 

After she leaves with a wink, she shuts the door behind her and it’s just them. Alone, together.

 

The other boy shifts closer to Harvey under the comforter, taking over Sabrina’s space on the floor. It’s probably still warm, he thinks absentmindedly in the part of his brain that was still functioning.

 

“What do you mean, what do I do to you?” Harvey breathes, finding his voice after a second.

 

Nick bites his lip, and Harvey follows the action — a rare display of nerves. “You drive me crazy, you know that? Mysteriously sitting alone with your sketchbooks, how your ass looks in those jeans you wear, and your hair is just so _soft_ it’s unbelievable _._ ”

 

There’s so much tension in the room that Harvey could probably cut through it with a knife. He tries not to shiver when Nick runs his hands through Harvey’s hair, but it likely shows on his face because Nick says, so quietly that he almost doesn’t hear him, “If you don’t stop me, I’m going to kiss you.”

 

Nick leans forward, and his last thought before his world comes to a standstill was that he could  faintly smell breakfast coming along nicely from downstairs. 

 

Instinctively he moves closer, his eyes following Nick’s attentive movements like a hawk. Nick went to brush loose strands of hair out of his face, and he nearly melts at the action as Harvey closes the distance between them, his lips meeting the other boy’s tentatively.

 

It’s slow, hesitant at first — just two boys kissing each other on the floor of their respective ex-girlfriend and current girlfriend’s room. But then Nick tugs experimentally on his hair and it’s absolutely electrifying; Harvey moans, deepening the kiss and rolling over to straddle him.

 

“So you like that, huh?” Nick says, breathlessly. It would’ve sounded more smug if he wasn’t so out of breath, Harvey was certain.

 

_“Apparently,” Harvey comments, dryly._

 

He presses his lips into Nick’s neck, sucking on the tender skin, moving between that and his earlobe — something he’d been dreaming about doing since the day the other first started flirting with Harvey, all those months ago.

 

He’s kissed a handful of girls before, Sabrina, Roz, one or two before them at parties. A cute boy once, in the dark room of a closet during a game of truth or dare in fifth grade. It had just been a dumb dare, but it opened a whole new can of worms no one else but Harvey knew about at the time.

 

This didn’t feel dumb, Harvey thought as Nick lifted his hips up, grinding into him.

 

That drives Harvey wild — Nick was wearing a pair of Sabrina’s sweatpants, while he was still wearing his jeans from the party yesterday. He’s half hard already, and he’s never wanted to take his annoyingly constricting jeans off more than he did right now.

 

Harvey only has a few seconds to prepare for the mischievous glint in Nick’s eyes before he flips them over unexpectedly, so his back was against the floor and the warlock was only a few inches away from his stomach.

 

The warlock tediously unbuttons Harvey’s shirt and runs his hands along the skin underneath.

 

“This is a nice view.” Nick appraises, drinking it in before he started kissing his collarbone, his hand wrapping behind Harvey’s neck. His hands are just so warm, so soft and inviting. They weren’t callused at all and it’s like Harvey had been waiting his entire life for Nick to be doing this.

 

He’s almost worried about having to explain hickeys to his father, but Harvey notices he places the kisses so a shirt could hide them easily. _How thoughtful._ He thinks, dryly as Harvey jerks his hips upwards after Nick bit his lower lip. The friction is just what Harvey needed, and he desperately needs _more of it._

 

All these sensations have left him more than a little hard, he’s unsurprised to learn. But Nick doesn’t seem to mind when he notices; he just smirks, a big wide one that makes Harvey want to kiss it off his face.

 

“Just relax, Harvey, I’ve got you.” 

 

Nick shifts downward to cup his cock through his jeans, and Harvey leans his head back, letting out a guttural moan. “Whatever you do, don’t stop.”

 

 _“Yessir,”_ Nick says as he unzipped his jeans, his underwear the only thing between Nick’s hand and his length.

 

“Can you — faster,” he pants, not tearing his eyes away from Nick.

 

“Can you say _please_ for me?” Nick all but taunts, and the agonizingly slow movements he’s making with his hand is killing Harvey.

 

“ _Fuck,_ Nick. Please.” How is he supposed to think straight when Nick is touching him like that? Harvey’s making these desperate noises, _please please please._

 

Fortunately for him, the other boy listened because he increases his pace, pulling him out of his underwear and flat out pumping now. Harvey’s sensations are on overdrive, panting and he’s close, so so so close he barely has time to warn Nick before he comes all over his hand, the liquid dripping onto his underwear. Oh, what a hot mess.

 

Nick still strokes him through his orgasm, telling him how _good_ Harvey did. He couldn’t even begin to analyze that one, still on a high from it. _Wow._

 

“Fuck, Harvey,” Nick moans, flopping down next to him on the floor. It’s quiet, compared to earlier, but Harvey can hear him whispering and suddenly his sticky mess was all cleaned up. The warlock reaches down, tucking his cock back into his underwear and zipping up his jeans. 

 

“There, all cleaned up.”

 

“Thanks,” Harvey murmurs, and he rolls over so his face is buried in Nick’s shoulder, and the other’s arm moves to wrap around his waist. It’s in this position he feels the other boy’s hard on, and he freezes.

 

Before he can comment on it, there’s a knock on the door as Sabrina’s voice rings through it. 

 

“Everyone decent?”

 

Harvey rolls back over with Nick’s arm still around him. “Yeah,” the other calls back.

 

“I’ve got some eggs,” she says, opening the door. And she’s not exaggerating, Sabrina was holding a bowl full of scrambled eggs balancing delicately on three plates, so Harvey springs up to help her.

 

Sabrina’s eyebrows rise up in a silent, curious motion when she sees his appearance — the mostly unbuttoned shirt, looking up at his messy hair and down to his jeans.

 

Turning to look in the mirror, Harvey can see why. He looks like he just had sex — depraved — his hair is a tangled mess, his shirt was strewn off to the side in a way that left his shoulder bare.

 

“What did I miss?” she asks, setting the plates down as Harvey took the bowl from her.

 

Harvey is definitely blushing as he hastily fixes the buttons on his shirt, and it probably only grew worse when Nick says, “Oh, just a little bit of fun.”

 

Sabrina turns to face Nick, who was still obviously hard even through the sweatpants — they were fairly form fitting since they were _girls sweatpants_ and left little to the imagination.

 

“Hey, Nick. Why don’t you get on the bed?” she suggests, airily.

 

Nick looked a little surprised but it quickly morphed back into his nuanced smug expression, sitting on the edge. She smiles at Harvey, slowly kissing him on the lips and squeezing his hand reassuringly before turning her attention back to the warlock.

 

It was safe to say that Nick’s annoyingly smug expression didn’t last much longer after Sabrina dropped to her knees, tugging the fabric down. Harvey almost feels like a pervert when he can’t tear his eyes away from them, watching Nick come as undone as he had earlier.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I'd be too busy to get a new chapter in before vacation but I got it in. I hope you loved it!


	8. I Caught Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a movie date and some angst

 

_Never caught my breath_

_Every second I'm without you I'm a mess_

_Ever know each other_

_Trust these words are stones_

 

_I Caught Fire — The Used_

 

* * *

 

Harvey’s leaning against the wall next to their local movie theater, hands tucked nervously into his jacket pockets. The evening itself wasn’t chilly, but the cold air conditioning inside sure would be.

 

The week after Sabrina’s party had been uneventful at best. His father hadn’t bothered to question him when he arrived home later that afternoon, opting for the increasingly common silent parent approach instead. Harvey hadn’t even had to use the lie he’d prepared — that he was tired and just stayed over at a friend’s house that night. Which wasn’t even a lie necessarily, Sabrina was an old friend. Losing Tommy had really done a number on his old man, and he’d probably be halfway done with a bottle if Sabrina’s magic eggnog hadn’t helped with his drinking problem.

 

But was she his girlfriend again? Were they back together? The lines were still so blurred he wasn’t sure. He was scared to assume anything he was hoping for, only to find out he was dead wrong about the whole thing.

 

An even smaller voice whispers, _but is Nick your boyfriend?_

 

Biting his lip, Harvey shifts against the cool bricks against his back and runs a hand through his hair in frustration. The three of them hadn’t had the chance to talk much after her party last weekend, sending sparse text messages in their group chat as Sabrina and Nick were caught up in their studies and school politics.

 

Harvey had actually been busy himself — Theo had subtly began suggesting study groups after accidentally seeing one of his test scores. Keenly aware of the fact that summer school could be a very real possibility now, Harvey readily agrees. Teachers had been going easier on him because of Tommy, but the sympathy wasn’t going to last forever and he could tell their patience was running thin.

 

Because how embarrassing would that be if he had to spend his summer there? He wasn’t sure what the future held for the three of them, but he’d be damned if he’s stuck at Baxter High while Sabrina and Nick are out enjoying themselves in the warm sun.

 

“Hey, stranger.” Looking up, he sees Nick standing there, dressed in dark jeans, a white shirt and the usual leather jacket.

 

“Hey,” he says, quietly. For once, Nick looks as awkward as Harvey feels and it’s kind of nice and endearing, knowing that the warlock was starting to let him in some.

 

“Ready to go in? Sabrina said she’d catch up with us afterwards, she’s helping her aunts with something.”

 

Realizing he’s still biting his lip, Harvey releases it and he watches Nick’s eyes follow the action. A nervous tension has been in the air since he arrived, surrounding the two of them and it’s hard to ignore it.

 

“What’s she helping them with?” he asks, breaking the silence.

 

“Just some family business, one of her aunts is engaged to the High Priest. She’s worried for her,” Nick replies, shrugging.

 

“Well, if there’s anything I can help with, let me know,” Harvey says, already knowing there would be limits to how much a mortal could do. 

 

“She might need help researching our old laws, looking for loopholes, that kind of thing. There’s a lot of material to search through,” Nick says, thoughtfully.

 

He nods as Nick takes a few steps closer and takes his hand. Harvey’s breath stutters, looking up at the other boy’s face. He’s acutely aware of the wall behind him as Nick shamelessly crowds into his space, so close he could feel Nick breathing on his face. Glancing around him, Harvey sees they’re standing off to the side of the movie theater, so people coming and going aren’t really sparing them any attention.

 

What he _wants_ to do is pull Nick in and kiss him senseless, for Nick to press him into the bricks and feel the sparks fly between them. Nick’s head is cocked to the side, and Harvey’s eyes drop to the other’s lips, an aching longing in his chest — a desire for more.

 

Something stops him from taking the leap though, and Harvey can’t quite identify what it is. It’s close to his heart — his brain giving him a silent warning. Nick’s eyes are searching his, for what Harvey isn’t sure. But whatever he was looking for seemed enough to satisfy Nick because the warlock murmurs softly, “Kiss me?”

 

His eyes drop to Nick’s mouth, and _oh God the dreams he’s had about Nick’s mouth._ But he only hesitates for a few painfully long seconds before he closes the distance between them, pressing his lips against Nick’s.

 

It’s not like the last time at Sabrina’s, no. This time it’s softer, gentler, more about savoring the moment than anything else. Nick corners him into the wall, and Harvey deepens the kiss when he does, biting the other’s lower lip. Nick lets out a quiet moan that Harvey almost misses if he weren’t hyper aware of the warlock’s movements.

 

One of Nick’s hands rests against the wall and the other wraps around his waist, pulling him closer. The warlock’s body is so warm and chiseled perfectly as Nick continues to kiss Harvey, pressing into him. This might be the most intimate thing he’s done with Nick so far, he thinks, pausing to plant kisses on Nick’s collarbone.

 

Hovering barely an inch or two away now, he almost misses it when Nick pulls back sharply for a second, gesturing towards the theater. The tension dissolves almost immediately as his hand lets go of Harvey’s, and it makes him want to snatch it back as if saying _mine_.

 

“Still want to go in?” Nick asks, shifting back a few feet.

 

“Yeah, we can,” Harvey says, blinking at the sudden change of pace and still a little dazed. Or maybe this was normal for Nick, steadily moving back and forth like a tidal wave.

 

Following Nick inside, he tries not to pay too much attention when Nick buys his ticket _and_ his popcorn, his heart beating a little too fast for comfort.

 

When they’re finally seated somewhere in the far back and waiting for the trailers to begin, Nick’s hand boldly (or not so boldly — this was Nick, after all) settles on Harvey’s thigh. Harvey’s proud of himself when he doesn’t choke on popcorn that was in his mouth, shifting to give Nick a better angle instead.

 

Flushing a little, Harvey realizes he’s actually getting used to the warlock’s flirtatious bursts of affection and it doesn’t bother him nearly as much as it did in the beginning. Back when Nick was just trying to make him uncomfortable — break him out of his dead brother shell — and he couldn’t see past his own grief and anger. Some days are still hard, but it’s been easier to get through them now, with time.

 

He’s glad they’re in a darkened room so Nick doesn’t notice where his thoughts have turned.

 

The theater isn’t crowded but isn’t empty either, the movie they chose having been out for a while. As the lights dimmed, Harvey relaxed into his seat and turned to look at Nick. This might be the most time they’ve ever spent alone together, Harvey realizes. Not that Sabrina's room wasn't private, but there was a degree of intimacy going to the movies together that a party lacked in.

 

Nick is munching on the ridiculously oversalted popcorn as the previews roll on the screen, _seriously who even likes it that salty?_

 

Snorting at that thought, Harvey accidentally knocks his leg against Nick and that causes a catastrophe of things to happen all at once.

 

One.

 

It jerks Nick’s hand all the way up to his crotch.

 

Two.

 

His popcorn is knocked off balance and scatters all over the floor.

 

Three.

 

Nick bursts out laughing in the middle of the theater, which causes _everyone’s_ heads to turn and glare at them.

 

Harvey’s ears are bright red and he scoots as far down in his seat as possible, which apparently physics doesn’t apply to witches and it’s only easier for Nick to reach just right _there._

 

Muttering some apologies, the passive aggressive looks eventually turn back to face the screen and Harvey leans down to pick up the bag of popcorn. And if he shifts in a way that causes friction against Nick’s hand, that’s none of his business.

 

*

 

After the movie, Harvey is walking along the sidewalk with Nick, heading to meet Sabrina at Dr. Cerberus’s. They’re not standing particularly close, but he could still reach out to grab Nick’s hand if he wanted to.

 

He doesn’t, for reasons he can’t possibly hope to address anytime soon, but the idea is there. Holding Nick’s hand as though they were boyfriends, or something.

 

It’s a fairly silent walk, so he’s able to think back to what happened at the movies. Or more accurately, how he hardly paid attention to it. How could Harvey be expected to when Nick was _literally_ giving him a handjob in the theater, his hand reaching under Harvey’s jeans to purposefully drive Harvey crazy? If this was just a long term campaign to drive him mad on some revenge scheme he had no idea about, it was definitely working.

 

Nick was staring at him earnestly the whole time, a smirk lingering on the edges of his cheeks. It had been the longest handjob of his life as the warlock relentlessly teased Harvey, bringing him to the edge and slowing down his speed — tediously never giving Harvey a chance for release until the movie came to a close.

 

Thinking back, Harvey had been so wrecked, so undone that he could barely take it — thankful for the privacy of the back row as his hips rocked wantonly in tune with Nick’s hand. The warlock would wait until a loud part of the film and bring him closer, closer, _closer_ until he couldn’t hang on anymore. Then, he’d either stop altogether or his antagonizing slow movements would bring Harvey back down. It was a process Nick repeated the whole time so that during the final scenes, Harvey couldn’t think straight and was desperately pleading Nick to let him come, his body shaking with a frenzied need.

 

Which had eventually lead to the best orgasm in Harvey’s life, seeing stars and eyes rolling into the back of his head, the whole shebang as he came. He had a feeling that there would be many more like those if Nick kept doing those things with his hands, gripping his painfully hard cock just right.

 

And how fucked was he if he was half hard just thinking about it? If this is a preview of what actual sex would be like, Harvey shudders. In horror or arousal, he isn’t sure. Maybe a little of both.

 

Harvey shakes his head, studying Nick out of the corner of his eye. He’s still got the popcorn bag in his hands, licking the salt off his fingers. It wasn’t meant to be suggestive, but it _was_ Nick after all and everything he does is suggestive.  _Damn_ does he want to finish cleaning off Nick’s hands for him.

 

Well that certainly didn’t help to clear his head, Harvey thinks almost despairingly. Fortunately, they finally arrive at the cafe. He spots Sabrina already sitting in the back with three drinks on the table. _Bless her._

 

“Brina, hi!” Harvey calls out, walking over. Nick trails behind him, pausing to toss the popcorn in the trash.

 

“Harvey, it’s good to see you!” she says, brightly as she stands to give him a hug. Her smile is big but her eyes look tired, and maybe she is pushing herself too hard.

 

“How was the movie? I’m sorry I missed it,” Sabrina asks as the three of them sit down.

 

Harvey coughs awkwardly as Nick laughs, saying, “It wasn’t bad, there were lots of explosions.”

 

Sipping her drink, Sabrina chuckles. “So you two had a good time?”

 

“You could say that, yeah,” Nick says, eyeing Harvey.

 

Sabrina’s lips curve up in a smile, her expression looking a little brighter.

 

“So how are you doing?” he asks, changing the subject not-so-subtly.

 

Almost immediately, Sabrina launches into a rant about why her Aunt Zelda should most definitely _not_ be marrying the High Priest, how the man was practicing sexist and Nazi-like traditions, listing a number of ways she could become High Priestess without having to marry the man.

 

As Harvey tries the drink she picked out for him — a strawberry milkshake, one of his favorites — he realizes he’s witnessing her best (and worst) quality: her fierce, unyielding stubbornness to do anything for people she cared about.

 

He tries not to interject with too many questions, because mortal politics are crazy enough without bringing magic into it and he doesn’t understand a lot of what Sabrina’s saying. She still explains everything patiently, sometimes talking a little too fast and Nick chimes in every now and then with a calmer tidbit of information.

 

Her legs knock against his under the table, and Harvey smiles when she takes his hand in hers, her slender fingers firm in his hand.

 

“Anyways,” Sabrina finishes, pausing to take a deep breath and grab a French fry off the huge plate she had ordered. “Enough about me, what’s going on at Baxter High? Anything dramatic?”

 

Her foot moves up to rest in his lap and _God,_ he wasn’t entirely sure Sabrina and Nick weren’t the same person because they had the same moves.

 

“Same old, same old. Theo’s the star of the basketball team now, everyone loves him,” Harvey says.

 

“Really, that’s great!” Sabrina says, smiling.

 

They sit and talk a little longer before she suggests they go back to her place, watching Dr. Cerberus start cleaning off tables for the night.

 

Harvey shrugs and nods because it’s late, but not that late, and he would rather be at Sabrina’s most days out of the week anyways. When Nick doesn’t disagree, she stands up to throw out their trash.

 

On their way out, Harvey can’t help but notice she’s holding _both_ of their hands, only letting go to tuck her phone away. This might be the happiest he’s been since Tommy died, he reflects as they’re walking down the sidewalk. Sabrina’s hand was slender and delicate in his, not unlike Nick’s, actually. He still can't believe this might actually work out between them as well as it has been; he's never the person who gets that lucky.

 

So if he starts worrying it would all be taken away from him the same way Tommy was, Harvey keeps that to himself, his eyes trained on the ground in front of him.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> xoxo, happy fourth to all my American followers!


	9. Have Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> our favorite witch, warlock and mortal finally get a moment alone together.

_I’m going crazy_

_‘Cause there are things in the streets I don’t believe_

_So we’ll pretend it’s alright_

_And stay in for the night_

_Oh what a world_

_I’ll keep you safe here with me_

 

_Have Faith in Me — A Day to Remember_

 

* * *

 

Harvey’s curled up on Sabrina’s bed that she enlarged, watching a movie she had put on. She’s lying in between him and Nick, looking fairly cozy under the sheets. Nick’s arm is lazily wrapped around her shoulder, but that doesn’t stop him from trailing his fingers down Harvey’s shoulder every now and then. He doesn’t shiver when Nick does that, but Harvey knows the goosebumps are visible regardless.

 

She’s still holding both of their hands, linking all three of them together. Her hand is warm and fits comfortably as ever in his; he wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s painfully domestic as Sabrina rests her legs on top of his, leaning back against Nick’s chest. 

 

Which is what Ambrose repeated when he barged into Sabrina’s room without knocking, teasing her about it. Sabrina threw a pillow at him and laughed when he dodged it.

 

“Oh, by the way cousin, a few classmates from school will be over in a bit. You might want to keep an eye on your mortal while he’s here,” Ambrose said, using magic to throw the pillow back at her.

 

“We just had a party here, Ambrose,” Sabrina said. “That’s got to be testing our aunties patience, isn’t it?”

 

“Perhaps, but they’re both _out_ _,”_ he replied, conspiratorially. “Zelda with Father Blackwood, _ew,_ and Hilda’s somewhere in town.”

 

Sabrina wrinkled her nose. “Of all the men she had to choose, I swear. I don’t want that man as an uncle or anywhere near my family.”

 

Ambrose shrugged. “I’m not his biggest fan either, but she’s old enough to make her own decisions, cousin,” It was a gentle reminder, but one that was laced with a subtle warning. _You can’t control everything, cus._

 

“You better hope she doesn’t marry him, or that will make Prudence your relative,” she snickers, as he adopted a look of mock horror.

 

“As if you think that would stop us,” Ambrose retorts, already walking back out the door and taking his leave.

 

Snorting, Sabrina calls after him, “Don’t forget to shut it behind you!”

 

The door silently slams shut with a resounding _whack!_ and just like that, they’re alone again.   

 

“Sorry about that, apparently we’re hosting another party,” she says dryly, shrugging.

 

“He said only a few, is that going to be like last week?” Harvey asks.

 

“Yeah, eventually. We’re a small community, so word travels fast. No one wants to miss out on anything,” she replies, leaning over to kiss Harvey.

 

Her lips are pleasantly inviting as Sabrina runs her hand down his waist, gently pulling him in closer. They have been unofficially back together for a couple weeks now, but this was about as far as they had interacted romantically. Sure, there were lots of small touches, multiple dances, and hand holding out in public, but as far as physicality goes? That had been lacking, so it was nice to be able to kiss Sabrina.

 

Harvey lets his hands float down to her lower back, roaming around the loose fabric of her shirt. The actions are all too familiar to him and it’s like they were puzzle pieces, finally fitting back together again.

 

Nick, never one for being left out, moved to kiss Sabrina’s neck. When he bites down just so in a certain place, Sabrina moans into his mouth and it’s so hot that Harvey dies a little on the inside. She’s kissing Harvey a little harder now, pressing her tongue against his and he groans, inviting her in.

 

It’s kind of fascinating, how that action drives her to straddle Harvey. Sabrina adjusts her legs so they wrapped comfortably around his hips, grinding down on him. She’s still kissing Harvey, and he still can’t believe this is real, that it’s not just a vivid memory of an old dream.

 

Nick takes over Sabrina’s spot on the bed, scooting closer to Harvey as the warlock leans back, propped up on his elbows. As she takes off her tank top, he comments appreciatively, “This is a nice view, you know.”

 

“Only nice? Not fantastic, outstanding?” Sabrina quips, teasingly.

 

“Oh, you know it’s definitely fantastic — quite above average,” Nick replies, not taking his eyes off of her.

 

Beneath it is a lacey black bra that captivates Harvey’s full attention, drawing him in and he _wants_ to take it off, his fingers itching to do just that. Harvey probably would have if Nick hadn’t gotten all up in his face, taking Sabrina’s hand in his and leaning down to kiss him. The last coherent thought Harvey remembers is that Nick’s eyes were dark with desire, and his cheeks had a small, rosy flush on them.

 

Harvey meets Nick’s lips with eager abandon, kissing him back aggressively. He’s at least half hard now as Sabrina grinds down on him, hitting just the right place that gets Harvey hot and bothered.

 

Still processing that this is actually happening, Harvey breaks apart for a second or two to catch his breath. Nick’s breathing hard as well, running a hand through Harvey’s hair a few times.

 

“Are you okay down there?” Sabrina asks, leaning down a little. Harvey nods, laughing a little nervously as she pressed kisses on his neck, sucking gently at the skin.

 

Sighing, Harvey leans back on the pillows and lets his eyes flutter shut, enjoying the moment for a bit. It reminded him of the old times between them — it was impossible not to be reminiscent. Except, things had changed and there was another layer involved. A new, attractive layer called Nick, a mysterious enigma dressed in dark leather and confident smirks.

 

At first he had been jealous of Nick, swooping in with a surefire attitude and great hair to steal Sabrina away. It had hurt more than he realized, to see her happy with someone else.

 

But Nick also provided a lot of clarity, pushing him more and more out of his comfort zone every day. He had been more than content to spend his time alone, sulking with only his art as solace. In a sense, he still was. But his comic sketches were only improving, and Harvey was starting to have a brighter outlook on life again, despite how much he still worried. And if that’s what Nick was like for Sabrina, a breath of fresh air, he was beginning to understand what drew her to him originally.

 

Harvey’s eyes opened again when the pressure on his neck alleviated, and he realizes Sabrina had turned to kiss Nick. This was something he was still getting used to, watching two people be together and still be included in it.

 

They were both so pretty and elegant, even their kissing had a level of gracefulness to it Harvey could never hope to achieve personally. Sabrina had shrugged off his jacket, leaving Nick in his shirt. She was still straddling Harvey, and there’s no way that position had to be comfortable — leaning off to the left to kiss the warlock — but Sabrina made it work.

 

 _Maybe,_  his annoyingly suggestive brain suggests, _she didn’t even notice because Nick was groping one of her breasts._ He’s not sure why that line of thinking did it, but he was as hard as a rock now, watching the scene in front of him.

 

Sabrina’s head was thrown back in pleasure as Nick cupped one in his hand, shifting to take the other in his mouth. Irritatingly enough, her bra was still on, but Nick just pushed it down and out of his way. When she moaned, Sabrina unconsciously ground her hips down on him and that’s _it,_ his pants need to come off because he can’t take that tight friction anymore.

 

Fortunately, she noticed Harvey’s problem, _how could she not,_ and paused, turning to Nick. “We seem to have an issue.”

 

“Do we? So soon after the movie?” Nick quips, his lips still mere inches away from her breast.

 

“It’s almost impossible not to, you know,” Harvey retorts, doing his best not to blush but probably failing.

 

“I’ll have to take a look,” Nick replies, and as though taking silent cues from one another, Sabrina rolls off of Harvey. She falls on his other side, as Nick steps in to her old spot on top of him. “Now, what do we have here?”

 

Nick rolled his hips, causing a heated friction in his cock. Raising his eyebrows, he asks something, but Harvey doesn't catch it. The warlock's shirt was askew and his hair was messed up, but Harvey thought Nick was perfect.

 

“What—,” How was he supposed to be thinking clearly? His brain felt like it was short circuiting, aflame on the inside when Nick was doing _that_ in those jeans, driving him crazy.

 

Leaning in closer, the warlock repeated himself. “What do you want?”

 

“T-t-this,” Harvey breathes, hoarsely, managing to find the words. 

 

“Excellent,” Nick replies, his eyes sticking to Harvey’s.

 

At least until he undoes the zipper to Harvey’s pants, pulling his jeans off. Nick runs his hand teasingly over the cotton material of his underwear, groping his cock through it. Harvey’s breathing heavier now, and he glances over at Sabrina. Her head is resting on the pillow — she’s taken off the bra, bless her — and she was watching them, donning a mysterious expression that Harvey can’t quite place.

 

It’s a small action, one he was almost too distracted from Nick doing somethingwith his hand to notice. But Sabrina slowly tugs Harvey’s own hand to her breast, letting him touch it. A free hand of hers is resting on his waist, trailing her fingers under his shirt.

 

As Nick makes his move, the warlock removes his hand from Harvey's cock. He tries not to whine, really, he does, but any complaint is cut short because Nick had the audacity to replace it with his mouth.

 

He says audacity because Harvey might have stopped breathing for a second, Nick's mouth on his cock forever etched into his memory. He's still gripping Sabrina's breast, the skin soft against his calloused hand. 

 

As Nick runs his tongue along the tip of his cock, Harvey's moaning in response to Nick's actions _._ The warlock really knew what he was doing, he reflects in a daze of heated pleasure as Harvey’s hips rock on the bed.

 

It felt so good, so freeing to just give in and let Nick work his magic. Harvey’s head is leaning back against the pillow and his eyes close briefly. He's gets closer and closer to the edge, and Sabrina begins murmuring quiet words of encouragement in his ear. _“That’s it, Harvey, you can do it. You’re doing so so well, you’re almost there babe. We’ll get you over the edge.”_

 

His hips were shaking tumultuously and when Nick actually swallows him whole, Harvey loses it, letting out a strangled moan.  _What even._

 

With one hand gripping the blanket and the other still on Sabrina’s creamy white breast, Harvey can’t take it anymore — the pleasure was too blinding. He barely has time to call out a brief warning as he comes, straight in Nick’s mouth.

 

_Well, at least cleaning up won’t be too difficult._

 

Glancing up from the top of the bed, Nick fortunately doesn’t look too annoyed. On the contrary, he looks pretty pleased with himself. Nick’s lips were still wrapped around his cock — a smug expression clear as day, even as Harvey rode out the orgasm.

 

Nick sits up, licking his lips. “How’s that for a bit of danger, Harvey?”

 

Harvey actually laughs at that, replying, “You call that dangerous?”

 

Raising an eyebrow, Nick says, “That challenge is accepted, Kinkle. You might regret saying that later.”

 

He snickers. “We’ll see, everyone loves an underdog.”

 

“Now boys, play nice,” Sabrina chimes in lightly, giggling. “Do you still have any energy left, Harvey? You must be _exhausted.”_

 

It’s Harvey’s turn to smirk as he says, “I’m sure I can find some more. I am a teenager, after all.”

 

He leans over to kiss Sabrina more fiercely, as Nick crawls over on the bed to tug her skirt down. The warlock’s hands sneak under her panties, and Harvey can hear him swear, saying, “Wow, do you know how wet you are, Sabrina?”

 

She breaks apart from Harvey to retort, “Well wouldn’t you be, after watching _that?”_

 

“I know, I’m just that good,” Nick says, looking very pleased with himself. Pausing, he turns to Harvey. “Why don’t you do the honors?”

 

“If you insist,” he replies, and Harvey moves to where Nick was on the bed. She’s wearing black lace underwear that matches her bra, and his eyes track them against her skin.

 

His hand pausing at her hip, Harvey asks, “Are you ready?”

 

After a confirmed _oh Satan please,_ from Sabrina, his hand travels underneath the dark lacey fabric. He just wants to give back all the pleasure he had just been feeling a few minutes ago, make Sabrina feel as great as Nick made him feel. Watching Sabrina’s aroused expression intently, Harvey's fingers go to work tracing patterns along her folds. _Nick wasn’t joking, she really is wet._

 

And because of them.

 

Harvey’s definitely flushing but he can’t bring himself to care at the moment, especially when Nick shifts to plant kisses along her collarbone. Harvey wonders offhandedly how many of those will stick — become more permanent marks telling the whole world that she was theirs and no one else's. it was her turn to be gripping the sheets, as he brings Sabrina closer and closer to finishing.

 

Even in the midst of all this, a little piece in the back corner of Harvey's mind can’t help but wonder what this meant for all of them — where they would go from here. He’s watching Nick run his fingers through Sabrina’s hair, tucking a loose strand out of her eyes. It’s such an intimate action in the heat of the moment that his heart beats a little faster for a reason Harvey still doesn't want to entirely address. But nonetheless, in a quiet space with these two people he can trust, Harvey can almost let himself believe it might be okay.

 

Almost, anyways.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> xoxo


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a trip to the county fair can be pretty cute

_'Cause if you jump I will jump too_

_We will fall together_

_From the building's ledge_

_Never looking back at what we've done_

_We'll say it was love_

_'Cause I would die for you_

 

_Skyway Avenue — We the Kings_

 

* * *

 

Harvey’s standing on the edge of the Greendale county fairgrounds, waiting on Sabrina and Nick. The evening was warm and muggy — a sign that summer vacation was starting off in full swing. He had been early, as usual, itching to get out of that empty house that only reminded him of Tommy.

 

The school year had ended quicker than he had expected it to, exam week flying by in a rush of cramming and blind panic. He, Theo and Roz had lived at the library that week, tediously going over the study guides for the respective finals.

 

Fortunately, he was on the other side of it now, having managed to pass all of his classes. Nothing overachieving, but good enough Harvey wouldn't have to repeat the grade. Sabrina and Nick had just finished up their semester today, nearly running themselves ragged in their overly competitive studying. 

 

Looking out on the lit up field, Harvey recalled the last time the three of them had spent time together before school got in the way.

 

It had been a rush of emotion that day at Sabrina’s, whose place had naturally become their hangout spot. Her aunts typically left her alone, save some teasing from Ambrose, and they were able to have their privacy. In regards to his own house, Harvey was too nervous about his father, and the warlock didn’t seem too interested in talking about his own family very often. Having had a hard year of his own family issues, Harvey knew better than to press him before Nick was ready to talk about it himself.

 

“Hey, sorry we’re late! The last practical went on forever,” Sabrina said, approaching him on the field with Nick trailing behind her.

 

“Hey, ‘Brina! How did it go?” he asks, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. 

 

Sabrina _hmphed,_ crossing her arms and looking annoyed.

 

Smirking, Nick said, “I passed with flying colors, but Sabrina missed a couple things.”

 

“Only because Father Blackwood is a sexist, gross, _scumbag,”_ she complains, giving Nick a dirty look.

 

 _“Or I’m just better,”_ he taunts, teasing her.

 

 _"Oh really, wanna bet?"_ Sabrina had a daunting look in her eye like she was going to retaliate, an expression he was all too familiar with back when her only enemy was their old principal at Baxter High. Motioning to the front gates of the fair, Harvey intervened in whatever fiasco was about to happen. “Why don’t we go in? The ride lights have turned on for the evening.”

 

“Good idea,” Nick says, and turns to follow him inside. Sabrina sighs as she wraps her hand in Harvey’s, letting him walk in between them.

 

“How was your week off, Harv?” Sabrina asks, changing the subject.

 

“A little boring, I mostly sketched,” he replies.

 

Which wasn’t necessarily a lie, he did spend a lot of time at the park with his blank sketchbook and charcoal. But he also spent a good chunk of time thinking about _them._ The last time they spent together, how much further they could go. His door had been locked, blinds shut and lights out save for his desk lamp.

 

Summer had been fantastic so far, because he was _free._ Free to let himself daydream about Nick opening him up and fucking him senseless. Free to think about Nick bending him over against a desk as he gripped the rough edges like his life depended on it. It was literally all he could think about these days — especially since the three of them hadn’t seen much of one another — which only made the pining worse. Harvey wanted to experience that friction again, that maddening electricity that ran through his veins whenever Nick and Sabrina touched him.

 

So if he bumped into Nick a little more than necessary on their way into the county fair, that was none of his business.

 

Nick’s expression didn’t change whenever he did, but his lips would quirk up in a smirk that contained a new hint of fondness hidden in the creases of his eyes.

 

Oh, and _Sabrina._ She had been amazing. They had almost fallen into their old routine — but more like a new and improved one. It was a routine where they were more level with each other, Sabrina could be herself and he didn’t feel dumb, as though she was keeping something from him all the time because he couldn't handle it.

 

It had been an added stress factor he hadn’t even realized from their old relationship, and it was so relieving being in the loop, per say. Additionally, because Sabrina didn’t have to hide who she was, she was a lot more relaxed around him, giggling as she would tell him the latest witch drama from her school.

 

_“This new girl started messing with Prudence and kept trying to get her in trouble, so Prudence set her hair on fire. It really made a statement.”_

 

_“So did it work, did the new girl stop?” he asked, running a hand through her hair._

 

_“Yeah, she transferred. Apparently you can do that — Prudence won that war,” Sabrina said, laughing._

 

_“I thought you guys didn’t get along?” Harvey questioned._

 

_Sabrina pursed her lips together. “It’s more of a frenemy thing, and besides. Now that she’s seeing Ambrose and around the house more often, we called a truce. I helped her find the spell to get back at the girl the other day.”_

 

“Oh, I’d love to see some of the work when you want,” she comments, brightly.

 

“Sure,” he replies, shrugging. “So what did you guys want to do first?” Harvey asks, breaking the comfortable silence as sounds from the fair buzzed around them.

 

Sabrina’s eyes lit up, searching in the crowd of people around them until she found what she was looking for. “Oh, let’s go to the ferris wheel!”

 

Harvey wasn’t much of a ride person, but Nick didn’t seem to mind and Sabrina loved them, so he went along with it. Sabrina had been talking about her day, but Harvey could only focus on how pretty she looked that night. With lights from the fair rides flashing across her face and laughter in her eyes, Sabrina was gorgeous.

 

So he told her.

 

Sabrina giggles, briefly kissing him on the lips. “You’re pretty too, Harvey.”

 

The tips of Harvey’s ears turn a little pink, earning a snicker from Nick.

 

Harvey shoves him playfully in retaliation just as they come to the front of the line, another couple exiting the cart as he was guided in from the attendant.

 

He sat in the middle this time, squished in between Nick and Sabrina. As the ferris wheel took off, loading more passengers, Nick’s hand brushes fleetingly against his.

 

“So, Harvey,” Sabrina begins, clearing her throat. “I know we told you we were busy with school this week, and while that wasn’t untrue, Nick and I were also doing something else.”

 

Raising his eyebrows in a mixture of curiosity and mild anxiety, Harvey turns to look at Nick when he speaks. “Yeah, since you’ve been spending so much time around witches lately, we wanted to give you something that would protect you from any vindictive motives they might have to hurt you.”

 

“Vindictive??” Harvey echoes, barely managing to hide the worry in his voice.

 

“Yeah, in case they had beef with us and try to hurt you because of it,” Sabrina explains. “It won’t protect you against natural disasters or other mortals — we figured you’d like that part — the charm will only work when a witch tries to do harm to you.”

 

Nick pulls something out of his pocket, and he can see it’s a plain, black bracelet band. The ride was moving in full swing now, gently rocking their cart as their legs swung in the air.

 

“We wanted to keep it simple, so your dad wouldn’t notice it,” Sabrina continues on, rambling almost a little nervously.

 

Harvey’s heart felt like it was either beating out of his chest or melting simultaneously. “Wow thanks you guys, that’s a big gift,” he says, awkwardly. “Does this mean that we are —,” Harvey cuts himself off, unable to say it out loud despite everything that’s happened already.

 

“Dating?” Sabrina finishes, her lips curving up in a smile. “I would hope that’s what we’re doing,” Taking his hand, she kisses him on the cheek. “If that’s what you want.”

 

The stars are sparkling in the night sky, and it almost feels like something out of a movie while Harvey looks between the two of them. 

 

“Can you put it on?” Harvey asks, glancing at Nick tentatively.

 

“Yeah, one second,” Nick shifts in the seat, bumping his leg into Harvey’s.

 

Nick tugs on his wrist, and Harvey lets his hand close around it, slipping the band on. It’s snug, but not tight and he kind of loves it. The warlock doesn’t let go of his wrist as it drops to his lap. Nick’s hand is warm, bringing a burning sense of promise along with it. Harvey wants Nick to do all kinds of things to him with those hands, those hands that made him feel so, so good the last time they were together. Turning to face Nick, Harvey notices he looks uncharacteristically nervous — an extra crease line in his forehead. 

 

“It’s perfect, thanks guys,” he murmurs, softly. Harvey squeezes Sabrina's hand.

 

“Nick decided on black, we argued over what your favorite color was,” Sabrina says, giggling.

 

"She said it was green, but I insisted on the black. How can a mortal be this involved with witches and not like black?" Nick adds, snorting.

 

"Both would have been great," Harvey replies, staring at his new bracelet.  _They fought over what his favorite color was?_

 

The ride had stopped at the top of the ferris wheel, he noticed. It was the most privacy they would get at a place like the county fair, no one bothering to pay them any mind when there was so much happening on the ground below.

 

“So, what do you want, Harvey?” it’s Nick that asks this time, repeating Sabrina’s earlier question. Sabrina’s head had moved to rest on his shoulder, leaving him with a great view of her blonde hair.

 

Words from their original meeting float through his head, and not for the first time. _If you ever need a bit of danger in your life..._

 

Harvey’s not sure he can put it into words, what he wants. _You. Us. This. Together._ Maybe if he were a little braver, he would actually be able to say it out loud.

 

Instead, with his heart hammering through his chest like he hadn't done this before, Harvey leans over and kisses him. He thinks action is braver and more romantic anyways.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who came on this journey with me. I loved writing these characters and everything about this story.
> 
> I hope to write either a sequel to this or more of this pairing in the future!
> 
> xoxo


End file.
